He told one manager he would never return, then asked another for more shifts

A casual worker quit one hotel, asked for more shifts at another - and the Fair Work Commission ruled he had been dismissed.

When a casual hospitality worker texted his manager to cancel his shifts and said he would not return, his employer treated it as a resignation. The Fair Work Commission disagreed - and the difference now exposes the company to a general protections claim.

In a decision handed down on June 3, 2026, Commissioner Matheson found that Cristian Letelier had been dismissed by Redcape Hotel Group, rather than having resigned. The ruling turned on a detail many managers would have missed.

Letelier worked about 30 hours a week at the Lakeview Hotel Motel. In the two months before the dispute, he also picked up at least one shift a week at the company's Figtree Hotel, helping cover gaps there.

On February 20, 2026, the decision records that he was the subject of inappropriate behaviour by a customer at the Lakeview. The hotel asked the customer to leave that day and later imposed a temporary exclusion, and management said the customer apologised. The employer also contended that Letelier had contributed to the escalation. Either way, he was unhappy with how it was handled.

On February 23, he called the Figtree manager, Mitchell Wyllie, said he was resigning from the Lakeview over the incident, and asked for more shifts at the Figtree. Wyllie replied, "leave it with me." Letelier then...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi1wFBVV95cUxNVm5WM2QyN1dpa2NxZG1PMjg0...