If a fixed term employment contract expires, do all issues go away?

Many organisations employ people on a fixed term contract to cover a position for a certain period of time. The contract will make it clear that the position will only be for a certain amount of time, at the end of which the contract will expire.

You might think that any issues that arise with the employee during the fixed term will go away once the contract expires, so that you don't need to deal with them by ignoring them until the contract expires.

A recent decision of the Federal Circuit Court has confirmed that this is not the case. In the case of Crawford v Steadmark Pty Ltd, Ms Crawford was employed as a Store Manager for Steadmark, which operated lingerie stores under the brands Simone Perele and Betty McDowell. Her contract was for a fixed period of six months, but with provision for extension.