Council Worker Sacked After Saying He Wanted to Punch On With Manager Wins Reinstatement
A council worker who was dismissed after he sent a text message to a colleague saying he wanted to “punch on” with his supervisor and referring to the supervisor as a “rude c—” has won reinstatement to his position after the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC) found his dismissal was unfair.
What happened
The council worker, a team leader, was at home on leave with a medical condition one evening in June 2023. In response to the supervisor’s advice that there was no need to respond to emails while on leave, the council worker had what the QIRC described as a “brain snap” in sending the text message to his colleague expressing his frustrations with the supervisor. The council was subsequently made aware of the text message and an investigation ensued.
The QIRC heard the text message occurred in the context of the council worker feeling he was being left to “fend for himself” while being responsible for a team of 15 employees. He had deeply felt issues of workload, work intensity and work pressure which he had shared at the time with his union organiser. The worker had become irritated with his supervisor, with some matters taking on a greater significance in the mind of the council worker than they perhaps should have.
The QIRC heard the council worker had enjoyed a long period of unblemished service with the council before the issues which led to his dismissal.
In dismissing the worker, the council relied on three allegations as being substantiated:
- The worker engaged in inappropriate behaviour in sending the text message to his colleague,
- The worker used the council’s electronic resources inappropriately in that the text message was not professional or courteous, and
- The worker failed to raise his concerns in a timely and respectful manner with his supervisor.
Dismissal unfair
The QIRC found that third allegation should never have been included, observing that there are other methods of educating workers on the correct process to be used to raise concerns which do not include formal disciplinary processes.
The QIRC heard that at the start of the disciplinary process, the council had considered a written warning, rater than dismissal, as the appropriate and proportionate outcome. The QIRC observed a written warning would have been the correct course and said it was highly regrettable it strayed from that course in opting to dismiss the worker. The QIRC said the dismissal was unfair given:
- The worker had a lengthy work history with the council
- His clean, unblemished work and disciplinary record
- His personal and economic situation.
The dismissal was also found to be unreasonable because it was a disproportionate response to his unblemished employment record, he was under pressure at the time, and the text message was out of character.
The QIRC ordered the worker be reinstated within 21 days and for him to be compensated for lost wages as a result of the dismissal.