It can. The rule asks for one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the three years before the petition, so a break during the intended year is a problem, though a different unbroken twelve months inside the three-year window may qualify instead. The payroll record decides it, not the employee's job title or length of association.
Find the twelve months the records actually support
Take the three-year window and map employment month by month from payroll, records of employment and tax slips. Mark every period of layoff, unpaid leave or work billed through a personal company, because employment by the qualifying organization is what counts and an invoice from a numbered company is not obviously that. If a continuous twelve months exists somewhere in the window, build the petition on those dates and say plainly in the supporting letter which period is being relied on.
If no such period exists, the practical options are to wait until a fresh continuous year has accumulated, or to reconsider whether another category fits the facts. Presenting a gap as though it were not there is the version of this problem that produces a refusal and a difficult explanation on any later filing. Hypothetical example: a museum registrar was moved from payroll to a short consulting contract during a restructuring, then rehired.
The contract dates may interrupt the period on which the transfer depends. Build a month-by-month table from payroll, tax records, leave records, and contracts, and designate the exact twelve-month span relied on. A first review should also identify the related entities and the future managerial duties.
The usual failure is counting association with the enterprise as employment while the underlying records show independent contracting or an unpaid gap.