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No work "at this time" message was a dismissal: FWC

A labour hire company's refusal to offer an employee further work after a host ended his assignment amounted to a dismissal, and its subsequent work offer was for "risk mitigation" only, the Fair Work Commission has ruled.

Commissioner Nicholas Wilson heard that when a casual production worker on-hired by Jobwire Australia Pty Ltd asked the account manager "Can you please confirm if there's any other work that you can offer me at this time or not?", he responded, "Jobwire will not be offering you alternative work at this time". This, he said, amounted to a dismissal at the employer's initiative.

The worker claimed this was adverse action by way of a dismissal, and that Jobwire took the action because he complained about not being paid an hour of overtime.

Jobwire objected to facing the claim, arguing that it had not dismissed the worker, because he remained on its books...