Delpachitra v University of Technology Sydney
Citation: [2023] FCA 18
At a glance
- Employees affected
- 1
What happened
Sarath Delpachitra sought leave to file a second further amended statement of claim. His original employment contract was with the University of Technology Sydney for a position in Shanghai, China at the SHU-UTS Business School. He brought claims under the Racial Discrimination Act, Age Discrimination Act, and Fair Work Act, alleging discriminatory non-renewal of his employment contract.
What was decided
Justice O'Sullivan refused leave to file the second further amended statement of claim. The Court found the pleading remained ambiguous in critical paragraphs, particularly regarding how alleged breaches of discrimination laws related to the accompanying factual allegations. The applicant had already had multiple opportunities to properly plead his case following a previous strike-out decision.
What it means for employers
This decision is procedural. Pleadings must clearly articulate the relationship between facts and alleged legal breaches.
What it means for employees
Applicants must clearly and concisely plead discrimination claims linking facts to specific statutory contraventions. Repeated failure to properly plead may result in dismissal.
Want this applied to your situation?
Reading the decision is free. FairWork Mate goes further — it reads the full case library and applies precedents like this one to your specific facts, citing the cases as it reasons. General information, not a guaranteed outcome or legal advice.
Every statement above is drawn from the published decision. Read the original here:
https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca0018Want more cases like this?
FairWork Mate tracks Fair Work Ombudsman, Fair Work Commission and Federal Court decisions across Australia. The AI advisor answers plain-English questions grounded on the full corpus — awards cited, industry, penalty amounts and affected employee counts — with a citation to the underlying decision on every answer.
Individual case summaries on this site are free. Full-corpus advisor access is a paid product — Business Solo from $99/mo, 50% off your first 3 months for the first 100 signups.
Get notified on new Fair Work cases
Free email alerts when we publish new underpayment decisions, penalty orders, and workplace law updates.
Free forever. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
This summary was drafted from the published decision and reviewed before publishing. It is general information, not legal advice. For your specific situation, speak to the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) or a qualified lawyer. About these summaries & corrections →