A former Suburban Rail Loop Authority executive, Justin Malkiewicz, has lost an unfair dismissal case in which he argued that his redundancy from the Victorian government's rail project was not genuine. Malkiewicz had received a taxpayer-funded payout reported at $233,000 (AUD) when his role was made redundant, but he subsequently challenged the decision, claiming the redundancy was used as a pretext for his removal rather than being a legitimate restructuring.

The ruling means the Suburban Rail Loop Authority's handling of the redundancy has been upheld, ending Malkiewicz's bid to have the dismissal deemed unfair. The case had drawn scrutiny given the substantial public money involved in the payout, with the Suburban Rail Loop being a major, high-cost Victorian government infrastructure project already under public and political attention over its spending.