The Workplace Relations Commission rejected a service engineer’s unfair dismissal claim, finding his overtime concerns did not qualify as a protected disclosure. The decision was dated 20 July 2017. The adjudication officer accepted reasonable cause to hear the late claim, but found the worker had less than 12 months’ service and could not rely on the protected-disclosure exception.
The worker said he was dismissed after raising concerns about overtime and working-time records. The plant machinery provider said he was dismissed after making a rude gesture at a staff meeting. The officer found that the concerns raised during employment related to his contract and that the first reference to an offence came after dismissal. The fairness of the dismissal itself was not decided.