Mr Bidinost was employed by the Respondent from May 2008 until his termination on 2 October 2012.
After being dismissed, Mr Bidinost immediately contacted an employee representative, this representative advised the Applicant that he would act on his behalf, and lodge an unfair dismissal application for him against his former employer; he later informed Mr Bidinost that everything was going well, and as such, Mr Bidinost believed that an application had been lodged.
After not hearing from his representative for some time, Mr Bidinost attempted to make contact with him. Mr Bidinost made in excess of 20 phone calls to his representative trying to establish was happening with his case. His representative did not return the applicant’s calls.
On 20 October 2012 Mr Bidinost became aware that his representative had not lodged an application to FWC as promised; this meant that he was now outside of the time limit for making an application (which was 14 days at the time).
Mr Bidinost immediately contacted AWNA, who lodged an application on his behalf that very same day.
The Respondent lodged a jurisdictional objection, claiming that Mr Bidinost’s application should be dismissed as it was out of time. The matter then went to hearing to determine whether or not Mr Bidinost’s circumstances were ‘exceptional’ and whether FWC should grant an extension of time.
On 9 April 2013 Senior Deputy President Richards handed down a decision stating that Mr Bidinost had demonstrated ‘exceptional circumstances’ and should not be penalised for the failure of his former representative. An extension of time was granted.
Source: https://www.fwc.gov.au/decisionssigned/html/2013fwc2089.htm
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