The Commission held that the expiry of a contract of carriage does not preclude reinstatement under s 314 of the IR Act 1996 (NSW), because s 314(2) defines reinstatement to include re-engagement under a similar contract, distinguishing the narrower approach in Deltec which was decided under the predecessor 1991 Act. On the merits, the Commission found a valid reason for termination existed (failure to sign the FFD declaration and abusive conduct towards managers) but that the process was procedurally unfair because StarTrack relied on the CoR Compliance Process which on its face did not apply to the applicant's vehicle class, and failed to address the applicant's complaints about this. Reinstatement was impracticable due to the breakdown in the relationship, the applicant's lack of a heavy vehicle licence, and other factors, and compensation was assessed at only one week's remuneration ($2,660.90 gross) reflecting the valid reason for termination, the applicant's four-year unexplained delay, failure to mitigate, and refusal to provide income evidence.
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