[2025] FWC 1497
General information, not legal advice.
Fair Work Commission
2025-08-26
Original judgment source is linked above.
'An employer must not take adverse action against a person who is an employee, or prospective employee, of the employer because of the person's race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, breastfeeding, gender identity, intersex status, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, family or carer's responsibilities, subjection to family and domestic violence, pregnancy, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin'.
(a) dismisses the employee; or
(b) injures the employee in his or her employment; or
(c) alters the position of the employee to the employee's prejudice; or
(d) discriminates between the employee and other employees of the employer.
(a) the person's employment with his or her employer has been terminated on the employer's initiative; or
(b) the person has resigned from his or her employment, but was forced to do so because of conduct, or a course of conduct, engaged in by his or her employer.
(a) a constitutional corporation, so far as it employs, or usually employs, an individual; or
(b) the Commonwealth, so far as it employs, or usually employs, an individual; or
(c) a Commonwealth authority, so far as it employs, or usually employs, an individual; or
(d) a person so far as the person, in connection with constitutional trade or commerce, employs, or usually employs, an individual as:
(e) a body corporate incorporated in a Territory, so far as the body employs, or usually employs, an individual; or
(f) a person who carries on an activity (whether of a commercial, governmental or other nature) in a Territory in Australia, so far as the person employs, or usually employs, an individual in connection with the activity carried on in the Territory.
Note 1: In this context, Australia includes Norfolk Island, the Territory of Christmas Island and the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands (see the definition of Australia in section 12).
Note 2: Sections 30D and 30N extend the meaning of national system employer in relation to a referring State.
Particular employers declared not to be national system employers
(2) Despite subsection (1) and sections 30D and 30N, a particular employer is not a national system employer if:
(i) is a body established for a public purpose by or under a law of a State or Territory, by the Governor of a State, by the Administrator of a Territory or by a Minister of a State or Territory; or
(ii) is a body established for a local government purpose by or under a law of a State or Territory; or
(iii) is a wholly‑owned subsidiary (within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001) of, or is wholly controlled by, an employer to which subparagraph (ii) applies; and
(b) that employer is specifically declared, by or under a law of the State or Territory, not to be a national system employer for the purposes of this Act; and
(c) an endorsement by the Minister under paragraph (4)(a) is in force in relation to the employer.
(3) Paragraph (2)(b) does not apply to an employer that is covered by a declaration by or under such a law only because it is included in a specified class or kind of employer.
(a) endorse, in relation to an employer, a declaration referred to in paragraph (2)(b); or
(5) An endorsement, revocation or amendment under subsection (4) is a legislative instrument, but section 42 (disallowance) of the Legislation Act 2003 does not apply to the endorsement, revocation or amendment.
Note: Part 4 of Chapter 3 (sunsetting) of the Legislation Act 2003 does not apply to the endorsement, revocation or amendment (see regulations made for the purposes of paragraph 54(2)(b) of that Act).
(6) Subsection (2) does not apply to an employer that:
(a) generates, supplies or distributes electricity; or
(c) provides services for the supply, distribution or release of water; or
unless the employer is a body established for a local government purpose by or under a law of a State or Territory, or is a wholly‑owned subsidiary (within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001) of, or is wholly controlled by, such a body.
(7) Subsection (2) does not apply to an employer if the employer is an Australian university (within the meaning of the Higher Education Support Act 2003) that is established by or under a law of a State or Territory.
1346. Part 3-1 does not rely on the terms national system employer and national system employee as defined in clauses 13 and 14. Instead, Division 2 sets out how the Part applies to action taken by a person. It does not apply on the same basis as the main provisions of this Bill which regulate the rights and obligations of national system employers and employees in relation to each other and the rights and obligations of organisations in relation to their employment relationships.
1348. Clause 337 applies Part 3-1 only to the extent set out in clauses 338 and 339. Those provisions connect the conduct regulated by the Part to the constitutional powers that support the main provisions of this Bill (such as the corporations power and the Territories power) and to the Commonwealth's power to make laws with respect to Commonwealth places.
1349. Subclause 338(1) provides that the Part applies to action:
1351. Paragraph 338(2)(e) also applies the Part to all action by, affecting or advising etc. an organisation.
1352. Paragraph 338(1)(d) also applies the Part to any action taken in a Territory or in a Commonwealth place. (Some of this action would also be covered by other provisions of subclause 338(1).)
1353. Subclause 338(1) largely applies the Part to national system employers and employees and organisations. However, extension of the Part to actions by and affecting national system employers (even if not in their capacity as employers) and organisations, and to all action in Territories and Commonwealth places, means that the Part may in some circumstances also apply to actions by:
1355. For example, the Part has effect as if, in any particular instance, employer were read as national system employer, industrial association were read as federal organisation or unregistered federal industrial association and workplace law were read as Commonwealth workplace law. The Commonwealth has legislative power to regulate all of the action in the Part if restricted in one of these ways to the relevant federal manifestation.
1357. The effect of clause 339 overlaps significantly with the effect of clause 338. Clause 339 ensures that, at a minimum, the Part applies in circumstances where a direct federal connection exists'.
(a) action taken by a constitutionally - covered entity;
(b) action that affects, is capable of affecting or is taken with intent to affect the activities, functions, relationships or business of a constitutionally - covered entity;
(c) action that consists of advising, encouraging or inciting, or action taken with intent to coerce, a constitutionally - covered entity:
(i) to take, or not take, particular action in relation to another person; or
(ii) to threaten to take, or not take, particular action in relation to another
(d) action taken in a Territory or a Commonwealth place;
(e) action taken by:
that affects, is capable of affecting or is taken with intent to affect
(i) a trade and commerce employer; or
(ii) a Territory employer;
that affects, is capable of affecting or is taken with intent to affect the employee's employer.
(2) Each of the following is a constitutionally - covered entity :
(3) A trade and commerce employer is a national system employer within the meaning of paragraph 14(d)'.
"(1) A corporation may be a trading corporation even though trading is not its predominant activity ...
(2) However, trading must be a substantial and not merely a peripheral activity ...
(3) In this context, 'trading' is not given a narrow construction. It extends beyond buying and selling to business activities carried on with a view to earning revenue and includes trade in services...
(4) The making of a profit is not an essential prerequisite to trade, but it is a usual concomitant...
(5) The ends which a corporation seeks to serve by trading are irrelevant to its description ... Consequently, the fact that the trading activities are conducted in the public interest or for a public purpose will not necessarily exclude the categorisation of those activities as 'trade'...
(6) Whether the trading activities of an incorporated body are sufficient to justify its categorisations as a 'trading corporation' is a question of fact and degree ...
(7) The current activities of the corporation, while an important criterion for determining its characterisation, are not the only criterion. Regard must also be had to the intended purpose of the corporation, although a corporation that carries on trading activities can be found to be a trading corporation even if it was not originally established to trade ...
(8) The commercial nature of an activity is an element in deciding whether the activity is in trade or trading ..."[11]
Alternative objection - the application is made out of time
(a) within 21 days after the dismissal took effect; or
(b) within such further period as the Commission allows under s.366(2) of the Act.
(a) the reason for the delay; and
(b) any action taken by the person to dispute the dismissal; and
(c) prejudice to the employer (including prejudice caused by the delay); and
(d) the merits of the application; and
(e) fairness between the person and other persons in a like position.
Section 366(2)(b) - any action taken by the Applicant to dispute the dismissal
Section 366(2)(c) - prejudice to the Respondent (including prejudice caused by the delay)
Section 366(2)(d) - the merits of the application
Section 366(2)(e) - fairness between the person and other persons in a like position.

[1] Applicant's Outline of Submissions filed 6 May 2025; Respondent's Outline of Submissions filed 12 May 2025.
[3] Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), s.338(2).
[7] [2024] FWC 580 at [17].
[9] [2018] FWCFB 5772 at [13] - [19].
[10] [2008] WASCA 254 at [68].
[11] [2008] WASCA 254 at [68].
[14] Ellikuttige v Moonee Valley Racing Club Inc [2018] FWCFB 4988, [31]; Miller v Allianz Insurance Australia Ltd [2016] FWCFB 5472, [22].
[15] Perry v Rio Tinto Shipping Pty Ltd [2016] FWCFB 6963, [41].
[16] Nulty v Blue Star Group Pty Ltd [2011] FWAFB 975, [13].
Printed by authority of the Commonwealth Government Printer
Frank Spanoudis
Canterbury-Bankstown Council [2025] FWC 1497