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Making an employee's pre-parental leave position redundant repudiated her employment contract, but this only turned into a termination when she filed a general protections dismissal dispute, the Fair Work Commission has ruled.

Although the employer considered she was still employed, Deputy President Michael Easton ultimately found that the employee's claim ended any further discussion about returning her to work in a different role.

In August last year, the K-Fresh Mart web designer went on planned parental leave, with a view to returning after about six months.

Towards the end of that period, due to its declining financial position, the employer decided to make the employee's role redundant.

It considered her role could be "merged" with a cashier role so that she would have duties to perform when there was no design work. This would be an on-site position, however, whereas she previously had a hybrid working arrangement, and with less pay due to the reduced scope and complexity of her design duties...