An Amazon delivery driver who tirelessly worked to support his newborn and seriously ill wife has been let go by the tech giant, despite completing nearly 22,000 deliveries with a spotless record.
Gopal Bandameeda had been delivering for Amazon since March 2023, working long hours without a single incident.
He told the Fair Work Commission that he was making a routine delivery on April 4 when he arrived at a home with the front door wide open.
Calling out ‘Amazon delivery,’ Mr Bandameeda said the man inside told him to drop the package inside.
After stepping a couple of paces in and placing the envelope on a table, with the man in plain sight and smiling, Mr Bandameeda snapped a photo for proof and left.
Despite following what he believed were clear instructions, Amazon later received a complaint alleging he had entered the home without permission. His Amazon Flex account was deactivated, preventing him from accessing jobs on the platform.
Amazon emailed him three days later, stating it had determined he committed a ‘serious violation’ of its Amazon Flex terms of service by entering the customer’s house.
His access to the app was suspended on April 7 and permanently deactivated the following day.
Between April 8 and May 2, 2025, Mr Bandameeda said he sent at least 25 emails to Amazon, appealing its decision to remove him from the platform and asking for leniency.
He argued Amazon had not followed the proper procedures set out in its own code, including failing to give him a deactivation warning and denying him a reasonable chance to formally respond.
At the time, his delivery dashboard showed a ‘fantastic’ status and he had never received a prior warning.
Amazon, however, denies it breached any of the required procedures.
Mr Bandameeda then filed his unfair dismissal application to the Fair Work Commmission four days past the strict 21-day deadline. Normally, late claims are dismissed outright.
Amazon argued the claim should be rejected because it was lodged outside the 21-day window.
But the Commission granted Mr Bandameeda a second chance to submit his case for unfair deactivation by Amazon.
Deputy president Tony Saunders accepted the driver’s explanation severe physical and mental health problems, including suicidal thoughts, had left him unable to prepare and lodge the paperwork in time.
‘We accept the unchallenged evidence from Mr Bandameeda that in the period from about mid-April 2025 he was suffering from significant physical and mental health difficulties, including suicidal ideation, and the need to care for his ill wife and newborn child,’ said deputy president Tony Saunders.
‘There is no doubt that these matters would have impacted Mr Bandameeda’s ability and capacity to prepare and lodge his unfair deactivation application.
‘We note that the significant mental health difficulties suffered by Mr Bandameeda in the period following his deactivation from the Amazon Flex app far exceed feelings of stress, anger, shock, distress, humiliation, or other analogous hurt, which workers commonly experience following a termination of their working arrangements.’