Less Than 6 Months on the App? Why the Fair Work Commission May Not Hear Your Deactivation Case
In a recent Fair Work Commission decision, a former Uber Eats courier found herself unable to challenge her deactivation—not because her arguments were weak, but because she didn’t meet the strict legal threshold. The case of Gerhson Tavares Gentil v Portier Pacific Pty Ltd T/A Uber Eats [2025] confirms that a platform worker must have been working regularly for at least six months to access the protections under the new unfair deactivation scheme.
Ms Gentil brought a claim against Uber Eats, arguing that she had been unfairly deactivated. She urged the Commission to hear the matter in the interests of fairness and to give full consideration to her claims. However, Uber objected to the Commission even considering the matter, pointing out that she hadn’t been working through the platform for six months at the time of deactivation. Ms Gentil agreed with this, but hoped the Commission might allow the claim to proceed anyway. It did not.
It was made clear that the Commission has no discretion to consider unfair deactivation claims unless the worker has met all eligibility criteria whereby a person must have performed work “on a regular basis for a period of at least six months” to be protected from unfair deactivation. Because Ms Gentil didn’t meet that requirement, the Commission had no power to consider the circumstances of her case.
This decision serves as a warning to delivery drivers and other platform workers. Unless you’ve been working through the platform for at least six months—and doing so on a consistent basis—you will not qualify for protection under the Fair Work Commission’s unfair deactivation regime. Regular basis usually means either working three or more days each week or completing around 60 hours of paid work per month, though even that will not be enough unless the calendar duration is six months or more. Even where the deactivation appears unfair or poorly handled, the Commission cannot investigate further unless the legal criteria are met.
