the Applicant v Rasier Pacific Pty Ltd
Citation: [2026] FWCFB 129
At a glance
- Employees affected
- 1
What happened
the Applicant worked as an Uber driver engaged by Rasier Pacific Pty Ltd. On 21 September 2025, he was deactivated from the Uber digital labour platform. He applied to the Fair Work Commission for an unfair deactivation remedy under the Fair Work Act 2009. The original decision, issued by Deputy President Dean on 23 February 2026, found he had not been unfairly deactivated. the Respondent's case was that the deactivation followed four complaints about the Applicant's conduct. the Deputy President found the Respondent had followed the Digital Labour Platform Deactivation Code, issuing warnings, preliminary notices and considering the Applicant's responses before making a final decision. the Applicant, representing himself, appealed that decision to a Full Bench of the Commission, also seeking to introduce additional business records as new evidence on appeal.
What was decided
The Full Bench refused permission to appeal. Under the Act, permission may only be granted if it is in the public interest, and factual appeals are only available on a significant error of fact. The Full Bench found the factual errors the Applicant raised were not significant and did not go to the heart of the Deputy President's findings. It also found that the Deputy President properly considered the evidence before her, and that her finding that financial evidence was irrelevant to a conduct-based deactivation was sound. The Full Bench rejected the argument that the appeal raised issues of general importance for self-represented applicants in digital platform cases, saying the matters raised were specific to the Applicant's own case. The application to admit new evidence was also refused, as the documents had been available to the Applicant before the original hearing and he could have relied on them then.
What it means for employers
Digital labour platform operators should follow the Digital Labour Platform Deactivation Code carefully before deactivating a worker. This means issuing warnings, providing preliminary notices, and genuinely considering a worker's responses before making a final decision. Where an operator can demonstrate it followed this process in response to conduct complaints, a deactivation is unlikely to be found unfair. Keeping clear records of each step in that process will be important if a deactivation is later challenged.
What it means for employees
Workers deactivated from a digital labour platform have the right to apply for an unfair deactivation remedy under the Fair Work Act. However, if the platform followed the required Code, including giving warnings and a chance to respond, the deactivation is unlikely to be overturned. When appealing a decision, any documents you want to rely on must be raised at the original hearing, not saved for the appeal. Appeals are only granted when there is a significant error or a genuine public interest issue.
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/2026fwcfb129.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 →