A planned redundancy, rushed forward after sick leave
Neal Farragher was general manager of CouplerCo, a PBE Rutherford Mining division at Tomago, NSW, that makes couplers, the plugs for medium voltage electrical cables. He started in October 2018. In 2021 tensions grew between him and the office manager. On 15 October 2021 he told the new managing director, David Meyn, that the issues were affecting his physical and mental health.
He spent the next week off on a doctor's certificate, during which his server access was restricted. Back on 25 October, he asked for mediation. The court found Mr Meyn effectively refused it and instead raised redundancy. From 1 November Mr Farragher was off unwell again. On 5 November a letter warned that the company would treat him as having abandoned his job if he did not report for duty on Monday. That afternoon he lodged a workers compensation claim.
The company had planned since August 2021 to make his role redundant in June 2022. On 8 November Mr Meyn told a colleague they needed to ‘push on’ with the restructure. Mr Farragher's employment ended on 5 January 2022.
The company said it was a planned redundancy. The court found it had been deliberately brought forward, and the company could not prove that his complaint, his personal leave and his workers compensation claim were not reasons for it. That breached s 340; dismissing him partly for his October sick leave breached s 352. The judge found Mr Meyn's evidence that the insurer had cleared the move untruthful, and held him personally involved.
A later judgment awarded $34,724.44 for lost pay to June 2022 and $50,000 for hurt and distress. Future loss was refused: he would almost certainly have been made redundant in June 2022 anyway, and the medical evidence did not tie his later illness to the dismissal itself. Penalties of $39,960 against the company and $11,322 against Mr Meyn were ordered to be paid to Mr Farragher.
If a restructure suddenly speeds up after you raise a complaint, take sick leave or make a workers compensation claim, it is worth getting advice. A redundancy planned in advance does not let an employer bring it forward for a prohibited reason.
A published decision of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 2), retold in plain English. Lawcaptain did not act in this case. Every outcome depends on its own facts. General information, not legal advice about your situation.
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