Strong Scottish Accent Costs Employer $32K in Dismissal Claim

A logistics company has paid a heavy price after the Fair Work Commission (FWC) found a worker with a strong Scottish accent was misheard and did not resign from her employment, as the company had maintained.

What happened

After the company investigated the matter and accepted the worker’s resignation, she filed an unfair claim in the FWC where she denied uttering the words “I quit” during an argument with a supervisor. 

One witness for the employer told the FWC the worker had thrown paperwork on a desk before saying “I quit and see if you can do the timeslots as I’ve had enough.”  Another witness said the worker grabbed a significant amount of paperwork up and threw it down on the desk before saying, “Here you do them, because I have had enough and I quit and I will be telling Mark.”  But the worker’s evidence was that she had instead said “this is sh*t, you can do this” and “I’m leaving to tell Mark.”

The FWC took account of the worker’s denial that she had resigned along with the fact her strong Scottish accent had resulted in the supervisor mishearing her in the past.  The FWC noted during the unfair dismissal hearing, the supervisor had struggled to understand the worker when she was cross-examined.  The FWC also considered the fact the worker had promptly sought to clarify that she had not resigned, when it became clear to her that the employer was proceeding on that understanding.

Outcome

Ultimately, the FWC formed the view the worker had said “this is sh*t” rather than “I quit” such that, in proceeding to terminate the employment of the worker, the employer had dismissed her.  The FWC went on to determine that the dismissal was unfair and the worker should be paid $32,000 compensation by the employer.