the Applicant v City of Subiaco
Citation: [2026] FWCFB 210
What happened
the Applicant appealed a decision by Deputy President O’Keeffe who dismissed her application against the City of Subiaco. The initial application was made under section 365 of the Fair Work Act. The City of Subiaco is a local government in Western Australia and not a national system employer. Deputy President O’Keeffe raised concerns about the Commission’s jurisdiction and requested submissions from the Applicant, which were not filed. the Applicant did not attend the hearing and could not be contacted.
What was decided
The Full Bench declined to grant permission for the appeal to proceed. They found the grounds of appeal had no arguable merit. The appeal was filed outside the 21-day period allowed by the Fair Work Commission Rules 2024. The application was dismissed under section 587(1)(a) of the Fair Work Act. The bench noted the initial application was likely hopeless due to the Respondent’s status as a non-national system employer.
What it means for employers
Employers, particularly local governments, should confirm their status as national system or non-national system employers. This impacts the jurisdiction of the Fair Work Commission to hear disputes.
What it means for employees
Employees should be aware of the Fair Work Commission's jurisdictional limits. If an employer is not a national system employer, the Commission may not have the power to hear a claim.
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/2026fwcfb210.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. The full FWC and Federal Court library behind every advisor answer is on Pro.
FairWork Mate AI
This is one decision. Pro reads all of them.
Free case pages cite the top 250 decisions. Pro opens the full Fair Work Commission and Federal Court library, cross-references your own situation against it, and cites the decision behind every answer — plus document upload, so it can read your letter or contract line by line. 150 questions a month, cancel anytime.
Just need today sorted? A Day Pass is 25 questions over 24 hours. No account, nothing to cancel.
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