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 in April this year.
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.
“It is very clear Mr Bandameeda values his work with Amazon,” Commissioner Allison’s findings said.
” … 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.”
The competing requirements included that, according to Amazon’s terms of service, he was unable to leave the package on the doorstep because it was visible from the road, and unable to leave it in the wind as drivers were told not to expose parcels to “inclement weather”.
He was also required to contact the customer. Commissioner Allison found Mr Bandameeda had “reasonably assumed” that the man who invited him inside was the person who had ordered the package, and that he would have been perceived as “difficult and rude” had he ignored his instructions — breaching the requirement to behave “respectfully and professionally”.
“I note that the circumstances facing Mr Bandameeda do not appear to be particularly unique and one can image many circumstances where delivery partners are put in a position where they have to choose between competing requirements,” Commissioner Allison wrote.
“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.”
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The newly built Amazon fulfilment centre in Horsley Park. (ABC News: Liam Patrick)
Digital labour platforms are required to have a human representative consider a contractor’s response before deactivating their account.
“I am not satisfied on the evidence before me that a human representative considered Mr Bandameeda’s response,” Commissioner Allison wrote.
In follow-up emails after receiving notice of the breach, Mr Bandameeda repeatedly requested a chance to explain his perspective.
“Please I want to talk to the team and I’m getting auto reply for this issue please it’s a big thing for me just give me a chance to talk to you,” he wrote.
Later that day, he wrote: ” … please give me a chance to explain everything.”
In a third email, he requested a phone call – again without success.
Drivers — known as delivery partners — are independent contractors who effectively compete for shifts on the app.