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After failing to consult with an absent worker prior to deciding her role was redundant, an employer has been ordered to reinstate her.

"I consider the fact that nobody bothered to speak with [the employee] at all to be particularly harsh," Fair Work Commissioner Jennifer Hunt said.

The bottle shop attendant had worked for Beach Hotel Stradbroke Island No. 2 since 2022, and was a permanent, full-time employee at its Dunwich bottle shop when she injured her back at work in February this year.

In March, while still off work and receiving workers' compensation payments, she received a letter stating she was being terminated by way of redundancy, due to the hotel's upcoming closure for renovations.

She filed an unfair dismissal claim, but the employer raised a jurisdictional objection, arguing this was a case of genuine redundancy...