Mikaylah Miller v CCM Quality Meats Pty Ltd

In the case of Mikaylah Miller v CCM Quality Meats Pty Ltd, the applicant, Mikaylah Miller, sought relief from the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia regarding an unfair dismissal claim. The respondent, CCM Quality Meats Pty Ltd, argued that the dismissal was not unfair because Miller had not satisfied the minimum employment period requirement. The dispute centred around whether Miller's employment period, which was interrupted by a period of long service leave, complied with the requisite minimum employment period for unfair dismissal claims under the Fair Work Act 2009.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the period of long service leave taken by Miller should be included when calculating her total employment period for the purposes of determining if the minimum employment period had been met. The court needed to decide if the statutory definition of "employment" should be interpreted to include periods of long service leave, and whether the legislative intent was to exclude such periods.

The court held that periods of long service leave are to be considered as part of an employee's total employment period. The judge noted that the statutory definition of "employment" encompasses all periods during which an employee is engaged by an employer, including leave periods. Consequently, the court found that Miller's employment period, when including the long service leave, met the statutory requirement for filing an unfair dismissal claim. The court determined that the dismissal was indeed unfair, and the respondent's objection was dismissed.

As a result, the court ruled in favour of Miller, allowing her unfair dismissal claim to proceed. The final orders were that the respondent's objection to the unfairness of the dismissal was dismissed, and the application for unfair dismissal was to be heard on its merits.