The "advertised" role was never advertised, never filled, and never even created
A dismissed underwriter waited nearly three months to challenge her redundancy after ex-colleagues sent her an internal job description she believed proved her role still existed.
The Fair Work Commission, in a decision handed down on 5 May 2026, dismissed the late unfair dismissal application of Mary Cooper against Envest Direct Agencies Pty Ltd, finding the circumstances were not exceptional enough to extend time.
Cooper started with the company on 6 March 2023 as a Sales and Service Consultant before moving into an Underwriter role on 6 November 2023. On 24 November 2025, she was called into an 8:45am in-office meeting and told her position was being proposed for redundancy. In that meeting, she pushed back, telling her employer the work still existed and that other staff did not have the knowledge or skills to do it.
A consultation letter and proposed new structure landed in her inbox that same afternoon, with a deadline of 26 November 2025 to provide feedback. She submitted her response on time, and the employer reviewed it on 27 November 2025. The next day, on 28 November 2025, while working from home, she joined a 1:30pm Teams meeting with Kerry Lowe and Wendy Leis Thom and was told her position had been made redundant. Her dismissal took effect on 1 December 2025.
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