A lunchtime email captured the decision hours before the stop-bullying request

A federal court has thrown out a probationary employee’s claim that she was unlawfully sacked, in a decision handed down on August 26, 2026 that turns on something HR teams can actually control: timing, and the records that prove it.

The worker joined a federal government agency, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), in May 2024 as an executive assistant, on a six-month probation. Over the following weeks, her supervisor built up concerns about her communication, her attendance at meetings, how she followed directions, and her grasp of how the office ran. The worker had concerns of her own. She raised grievances about a senior colleague, at one point calling the treatment bullying, and later asked the agency’s HR team how to lodge a stop-bullying claim with the Fair Work Commission.

She was dismissed on August 8, 2024. She then told the court the real reasons were her complaints, her planned stop-bullying claim, and her health - she had dealt with pneumonia, workplace stress and kidney stones - along with the leave she had taken.

Those arguments met a rule that decides many of these cases. Under the “general protections” part of the Fair Work Act, once a worker points to a protected reason, the employer has to prove that reason played no part in the decision. The burden sits with the employer, not the worker.

The agency met it. The court found the supervisor had decided...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMizwFBVV95cUxNd2VxWGhGa0V4Z254RDJ2NG1Q...