'Impulsive
reaction to frustration'
Handyman awarded $19,000 after sacking
Have your say
THE Fair Work Commission has ordered Two
Shores Holiday Village at The Entrance in NSW to pay a former casual
handyman nearly $19,000 for unfair dismissal.
The Commission was told that 62-year-old Anthony Morley had looked after
the park's gardens and performed general maintenance since 2012.
He was given his marching orders by owner Raymond Smith after a dispute
over repairing a faulty sprinkler system which was causing plants to die.
In his written decision, Fair Work Commissioner Ian Cambridge found that
the way in which Mr Morley was dismissed was severely flawed.
He had not been given a written notice of his termination and just one
week's notice.
Applicant should have been made aware that
employer had concerns
|
"The applicant should have been made aware
that the employer had concerns about his conduct and performance which
jeopardised his ongoing employment," Commissioner
Cambridge said.
"It is readily conceivable that if the applicant had been clearly advised
and warned that his employment was in jeopardy unless he repaired the
irrigation/sprinkler system immediately, and that he increased the
watering of the flora, he would have complied with such directions.
"Alternatively, if the applicant had disregarded such warning and not
followed the reasonable direction of the employer, then the employer would
have established valid reason upon which to dismiss."
The hearing was told that two
years after being asked to repair the sprinkler system, plants were
dying and Mr Morley was allegedly fired on the spot.
Commissioner Cambridge said the case had
involved a "very hasty and ill-conceived decision to dismiss the applicant
without valid reason".
It represented a "spur of the moment decision" by Mr Smith as an impulsive
reaction to his frustration regarding aspects of the conduct of the
applicant about which the applicant had not been warned.
"Consequently, the dismissal was without valid reason and involved
significant procedural deficiencies," the Commissioner
said.
"The dismissal of the applicant was harsh, unjust and unreasonable."
Two Shores Holiday Village
was ordered to pay Mr Morley 20 weeks'
wages of $19,096, less $500
for an unpaid loan.
BACK TO CARAVANNING NEWS MAIN PAGE
No part of this
publication may be reproduced or transmitted without the prior written
permission of Dennis Amor.
Copyright 2005
Dennis Amor All Rights Reserved
|