Stamenkovic v Adtrans Hino Pty Ltd

Kristian Stamenkovic (the applicant) brought proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia against his former employer, Adtrans Hino Pty Ltd (the respondent). The applicant alleged that the respondent had taken adverse action against him, in contravention of section 340 of the *Fair Work Act 2009* (Cth), by terminating his employment because he had exercised a workplace right. The workplace rights relied upon by the applicant included making a complaint to Human Resources regarding his manager's conduct, taking sick leave, and making a WorkCover claim.

The court was required to determine whether the respondent's termination of the applicant's employment constituted adverse action under the *Fair Work Act 2009* (Cth). Specifically, the court needed to ascertain if the termination was causally linked to the applicant's exercise of workplace rights, namely his complaint about Mr Morgan, his taking of sick leave, and his WorkCover claim.

The court dismissed the application. It found that the respondent had discharged the onus of proving that the adverse action was not taken for a prohibited reason. The court's reasoning, while not detailed in the provided text, indicates that the evidence presented did not establish that the termination of employment was a consequence of the applicant exercising his workplace rights. The respondent's actions leading to the termination were considered to be based on legitimate reasons unrelated to the applicant's protected conduct.

The application made on 17 March 2017 was dismissed.