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Telling an employee who was seeking an early pay rise not to copy the CEO in on her grievance emails was clearly lawful and reasonable, and breaching this direction warranted her dismissal, the Fair Work Commission has found.

Commissioner Sophie Panopoulos (formerly Commissioner Mirabella) accepted the employer's position that in a company of 475 staff, it was a "misallocation of the CEO's time" to be dealing with a pay dispute at the employee's level.

Bus manufacturer Volgren Australia dismissed the accounts payable officer in March 2025 for conduct-related reasons. Specifically, it said the working relationship had broken down and was irreconcilable, after the employee had refused a lawful and reasonable direction to participate in a performance review process.

Dealing with her unfair dismissal claim, the Commission heard that the employee started in her role in May 2023, and in January 2024 she received a 5% pay rise...