FWC finds ending of long-term assignment unfair

Recently the Fair Work Commission (FWC) decided that ending a long-term on-hire assignment because of a client's request was unfair. While acknowledging the challenges posed by a client demand to end a long-term assignment immediately, the FWC outlined how such situations should be handled. Martin Richardson from Ready set Recruit writes.

Background

In 2015, the employee was assigned to Sigma HealthCare as a Store Worker by ProQuest Recruitment, working 37 5 hours per week In 2024, she accidentally swapped delivery labels on two boxes, which were then sent to the wrong addresses. A few days later, Sigma asked that the employee no longer be assigned to them.

Two days after that, ProQuest told the employee that her assignment had ended but that she was still employed and they would look for other work for her. The employee then filed an unfair dismissal claim against ProQuest.

Unfair Dismissal Claim

The FWC agreed that the employee had been dismissed, considering the wording of her Casual Employment Agreement (which had clauses including “On the termination of an Assignment…My employment will end…”) and the full-time nature of the assignment.

The FWC found there was a valid reason for the dismissal, including the client's permission being essential for her to work, ProQuest having no contractual basis to dispute the instruction, and previous picking errors.

However, the FWC criticized ProQuest for not resisting Sigma's instruction to remove the employee and for not consulting with her.

The dismissal was deemed unreasonable and harsh, but the employee received no compensation because she was a casual employee and her employment was tied to the Sigma assignment.

Takeaways

1.Contract terms:

It’s vital to ensure your agency is using appropriate on-hire casual employment terms that properly articulate termination of the overarching employment v an individual assignment.

You should also ensure client terms of business clarify each party’s role and obligations when ending assignments.

2 Worker offboarding:

You should tread carefully when a client asks to abruptly end a long-serving employee's assignment.

You should understand your contractual position (see point 1), and where possible, speak with the employee and the client to understand the context, their positions and whether the decision to end the assignment is fair.

Where it does not appear to be fair, you should (subject to commercial terms and operational needs) speak with the client about whether there is any alternative to ending the assignment.