Fifteen weeks off work. No return date in sight. And a solicitor's reply that never made it past the spam filter.
That was the position facing Apco Service Stations when its people and culture manager decided to end the employment of a corporate food trainer who had been absent since December 2024. The worker challenged the dismissal under the general protections provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009, arguing he was sacked for exercising workplace rights and because of his mental health condition. On September 24, 2026, the Federal Circuit and Family Court dismissed the application, finding the employer proved its sole reason for the dismissal was the worker's inability to perform the inherent requirements of his role - essentially, his inability to attend work at all.
The trouble started during store audits in regional Victoria. On December 10 and 11, 2024, the worker visited two retail sites. At the second store, a franchisee took issue with the previous day's audit findings. The worker's evidence was that the franchisee swore at him and a colleague, calling them "fucking idiots." His colleague sent him home.
The next morning, the worker raised the incident with a senior colleague. Their accounts of that conversation differed - she described it as a coaching chat about delivering negative audit results; he said she downplayed what had happened. The court did not need to resolve the difference. There was no evidence the people and culture manager - the person who...
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