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A sacked leader "was not without her failings", but her supervisor's "managerial cowardice", in failing to raise any performance concerns with her prior to termination, made her dismissal unfair.

"The fact that the [employer] might have held concerns about [the employee] as a leader, yet it did not warrant a direct discussion with her or any mention of concerns in her performance review, is extraordinary," Fair Work Commission Deputy President Ian Masson said.

The case involved a professor at the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE), who was also the director of the faculty's Williams Centre for Learning Advancement (WCLA) .

In February 2025, the employer dismissed the director after an 18-month investigation and disciplinary process found she had engaged in serious misconduct...