He resigned after 30 years. Then his employer moved the end date

Christopher Barton started at the Geelong refinery in 1989, when it was run by Shell, and rose to shift team leader. By 2019 he had significant hearing loss, accepted as an injury suffered in the course of his work, and he was struggling with his hearing aids in the noise of the plant. On 20 June 2019 he emailed his resignation, naming 12 June 2020 as his last day, so that he could use his long service and annual leave first. The company accepted the resignation and approved leave until 13 March 2020.

In October 2019, saying his health and personal circumstances had changed, he asked to withdraw the resignation. The company refused. It handed him a letter ending his employment on 31 December 2019, more than five months before the date he had chosen, and later cancelled the leave it had approved after that date.

Commissioner Lee found the resignation was unconditional, so the company did not have to let him take it back. But by bringing the date forward, the company itself ended his employment, and it conceded that it had no valid reason to do so. The evidence about why 31 December had been chosen was 'most unsatisfactory', and pointed only to the company's own administrative convenience. As for the leave, either the company knew it had been approved and disregarded it, or it did not know, 'which is inexcusable'.

Mr Barton was 58, had an unblemished record, and was finding it very hard to get work. Reinstatement was not appropriate, because he had chosen to leave in June 2020 anyway. His lost pay up to that date came to $105,200, so he was awarded the maximum compensation then allowed: $74,350. Money that his union workmates had voted to pay him while the case ran was not deducted.