[2025] FWC 3202
Citation: [2025] FWC 3202
What happened
the Applicant, a casual early childhood educator, worked for Guardian Community Early Learning Centres Pty Ltd from November 2022. In May 2025, she informed her centre manager she would be overseas from July 3 to August 29, 2025, and used the Human Force app to request leave. Due to a typhoon, she lost internet access until August 5, 2025. Guardian sent emails requesting she complete a Suitability Declaration, which the Applicant claims not to have received. After regaining access, she emailed Guardian explaining the situation and expressing her desire to return to work. Guardian responded stating her employment had ended due to the declaration not being completed.
What was decided
The Fair Work Commission found the Applicant was unfairly dismissed. The Commission noted doubt existed regarding whether the Applicant received the emails from Guardian. Guardian’s actions in terminating her employment were deemed unreasonable, particularly given the Applicant's explanation for the delay and her expressed desire to return. The Commission ordered Guardian to reinstate the Applicant and compensate her for lost income and other damages.
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.fwc.gov.au/documents/decisionssigned/pdf/2025fwc3202.pdfWant 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 →