Employer Chipped for Unfair Dismissal
A food products supplier which made a meal of dismissing an employee has been forced to fork out $20,500 after the Fair Work Commission found it unfairly dismissed a food technologist.
The Respondent, Krio Krush Basic Foods Pty Ltd, had issued instructions for the Applicant, Ms Yi Qun (Vanessa) Jin, to create certain flavours of chips with a collection of ingredients her employer had provided. The Applicant told her employer the business did not have the correct materials to make the chip flavours and there would be difficulties in having the flavours attach to the chips. The employer told the Applicant she was being negative.
Thirty minutes after the discussion, the Applicant was called into a meeting where she was dismissed. No warnings were given, there was no opportunity for a support person or any prior warnings. The Commission found the dismissal to be harsh and unreasonable, and an order to pay compensation equivalent to three months’ wages was handed down by the Commission.