Accountant’s unfair dismissal appeal upheld after clash

An accountant claimed she was unfairly dismissed following a clash with a colleague who allegedly schemed to continue working after his registered tax agent status was terminated.

Editor’s note: This story first appeared on HR Leader’s sister brand, Accountants Daily.

In August 2024, Sydney-based accountant Christina Sawyer applied to the Fair Work Commission for unfair dismissal after a heated exchange allegedly resulted in her termination.

From 2008, Sawyer worked as an accountant for the firm Wards Accounting, rising through the ranks to become a director and significant shareholder.

However, things began to go awry when fellow company director and shareholder Damien Ward was found to have breached the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA) code of professional conduct, leading to the termination of his registered tax agent status by the Tax Practitioners Board.

Following the termination of his tax agent status, the shareholders of Wards Accounting allegedly discussed a deal wherein a purchaser known as “Count” would buy out Ward’s shares in the company and provide funding for a new business, which Ward wanted Sawyer to set up.

“In light of the TPB termination, they said it was best to buy only my shares out. They are happy to take over and provide funding for a new business. You will set up a new company with Count and all the clients will be transferred to this new company,” Ward allegedly told Sawyer, according to her recollection.

Sawyer said that she hadn’t been provided any details regarding the proposal for the new company she would supposedly set up, which Count also allegedly refused to discuss with her.

“They don’t want to talk to you. They just want to do all the dealings through me. Don’t worry, I’ve managed to work out a really good deal for all of us,” Ward allegedly told Sawyer.

“They’ve offered me good money to buy my shares and a salary of $300k to manage the work of the new company. It’s a good deal for me and I have to protect myself.”

Sawyer expressed concerns about the deal and Ward’s alleged intention to continue to work following the termination of his registered tax agent status.

According to her, the following exchange took place:

Sawyer: “You can’t keep working as a tax agent. The TPB will find out, and I am not willing to work with you if the TPB determines you cannot be involved in tax services, or get in trouble, or put my career or reputation on the line.”

Ward: “No, they’ll never find out.”

Sawyer: “I’m not comfortable with that at all. All it will take is one unhappy client to dob you in and you will be under investigation again. I will not be a part of that arrangement.”

The discussion escalated, Sawyer alleged, and she reasserted that she didn’t want to be involved in setting up the new company. She got up to leave the room, but Ward allegedly blocked her exit, standing in front of the door with his arms folded aggressively.

“You’re not going anywhere. We need to sort this out. We’ve had a vote and you’ve been outvoted. There is no other option. You need to agree to this,” he allegedly told her.

Sawyer said that she was left with no option but to push past him to get out of the boardroom, adding that she feared for her safety after Ward refused to get out of her way. Ward denied blocking the door and gave differing evidence regarding the heated nature of the meeting, court documents said.

Following the meeting, which had occurred between 1pm and 1:30pm on 31 July 2024, she continued to work in the office until 5pm. At 7:53pm that evening, she was locked out of the Wards Accounting computer system and received an email outlining her leave accrual balances, court documents said.

The morning of 1 August 2024, she received a letter signed by Ward and other Wards Accounting directors confirming her resignation, effective from close of business on 31 July 2024.

Sawyer didn’t return to the workplace following this email, but she told the court that her resignation had been “up in the air” when the directors had notified her of her termination.

“I was happy to continue doing the work, to look after the clients, but when I went on my computer I was locked out of everything. So even if I wanted to respond to that email I wouldn’t have been able to,” she told the court.

In August, she applied to the Fair Work Commission, citing unfair dismissal.

An initial hearing determined that she had not been forced to resign, which Sawyer appealed. Her appeal was successful, and the matter will be revisited by the court.

According to the TPB register, Ward’s registered tax agent status was repealed effective June 2025, following multiple TASA breaches.

The TPB found that he had failed to take reasonable care in the preparation and lodgment of income tax returns for 33 clients, leading to higher-than-usual work expense deductions for those clients.

It found that he had “misled the board in multiple renewal applications for the company in declaring an individual was a supervising agent of the company, in circumstances where that individual had not consented to being a supervising agent of the company”.

Finally, it concluded that he had engaged in conduct that had undermined the integrity of the taxation system, and therefore was not fit to perform the functions of a registered tax agent “competently and with integrity”.