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Withdrawing a job offer after a candidate made "persistent phone calls and negative comments" could not have been an "illegal termination", because no employment relationship yet existed, the Fair Work Commission has found.

Commissioner Scott Connolly upheld the prospective employer's jurisdictional objection on the basis the candidate wasn't an employee and therefore couldn't make a general protections claim involving dismissal.

The Commission heard that on 7 January this year, the candidate accepted an offer of employment from the National Disability Insurance Agency, with a start date of 10 February.

But later that month, the employer rescinded the candidate's job offer, stating it was "not satisfied he was able to satisfy the conditions of engagement of an APS4 Access Assessor". This was due to his "persistent phone calls and negative comments towards the agency and its work"...