"Amazon ordered to allow delivery driver to return to work after 'unlawful' dismissal", 18 December 2025

Amazon has been ordered to allow a delivery driver booted from its platform to return to work after the Fair Work Commission found "competing requirements" were behind his accidental breach of its rules.

Gopal Bandameeda had a rating of "fantastic" from about 22,000 deliveries when he was accused of entering a customer's home without permission ...

When Mr Bandameeda received correspondence from Amazon accusing him of a "serious violation", immediately suspending his access to the Amazon Flex platform, he replied that the home in question was "completely open" while a man he thought was the customer was working on a side door.

He listed the numbers of his wife and a friend for Amazon to call while pleading to retain access to the app.

According to the Fair Work Commission findings, less than 24 hours after sending the warning, Amazon deactivated Mr Bandameeda's account.

It was a decision ruled unlawful by Commissioner Susie Allison in findings published this week.

Commissioner Allison ordered Amazon to reactivate Mr Bandameeda's access to the platform. It will also have to pay his lost earnings…

" … the incident on 4 April 2025 did not arise from Mr Bandameeda wilfully breaching a condition of the Terms of Service, but rather a situation where Mr Bandameeda was trying to perform his job well and had to negotiate a complex situation with competing requirements."…

"If Amazon wants the requirement not to enter a home under any circumstances to be prioritised above other requirements — this needs to be made clear."

Asked about the findings, an Amazon spokesman said: "We clearly state to delivery partners that they are not to enter customers' homes under any circumstances, and that doing so is a breach of the Amazon Flex terms of service.

"We will reiterate to delivery partners the important requirement that they should not enter a customer's residence."…