A Sydney manager has been awarded more than $63,000 in compensation after the Fair Work Commission (FWC) ruled she was unfairly dismissed for refusing a breath test following a boozy work lunch.
The Incident
Former Multiquip transport manager Chantelle Tamati attended a four-hour lunch with two colleagues at a licensed venue in Sydney’s west earlier this year. Upon returning to the office, one of the group became disruptive, phoning the company director to resign.
The director then ordered drug and alcohol testing for all three staff members.
Ms Tamati was taken into a meeting room by the HR Manager and the company’s national compliance manager and asked to take a breath test. She said she had consumed only one Jim Beam and Coke with a garlic pizza during the lunch and felt she was being unfairly targeted.
“I soon felt the ‘quick chat’ turning into an interrogation against me,” she told the FWC. “I felt my character and integrity was being unreasonably attacked based on false pretence.”
She refused the test, after which she was warned she would be suspended on pay pending a disciplinary process. Four days later, she was formally dismissed for “serious misconduct”.
Company Culture and Policy
The FWC heard evidence that long lunches involving alcohol were not unusual at Multiquip, which employs more than 1,300 people nationwide and provides transport services for the poultry industry.
Company policy allowed for both random alcohol testing and testing where impairment was suspected. However, Deputy President Tony Slevin found it was not clear what grounds were given for directing Ms Tamati to undergo the test.
The Decision
In his ruling, Mr Slevin said:
The company’s direction was not “reasonable and lawful” under the circumstances.
The reasons for the test were not properly explained.
There was no valid reason for Ms Tamati’s dismissal.
“The size of the employer gives rise to an expectation that processes leading to dismissal will be thorough and in accordance with company policies,” Mr Slevin said.
Compensation Awarded
Ms Tamati was out of work for four weeks after her termination and later secured a new role that paid $27,000 less per year than her Multiquip position.
Finding reinstatement inappropriate, the Commission instead awarded her $63,500 in compensation.
