By

Mike Toten

Mike Toten is a freelance writer, editor and media commentator.

A hotel chef who was summarily dismissed by text message after notifying his employer he was unable to attend a work shift has been awarded $2700 compensation for unfair dismissal.

The employee had worked for 16 months at the hotel and lived on the premises. He was a regular casual employee, working six days per week for a total of 25 hours.

One day he attempted to notify the operations manager that he could not attend his next work shift. When his text message failed to go through, he sent a message to the other director of the business.

In return, he received a text message telling him he was dismissed immediately and had to vacate living at the hotel the next day. The latter demand was later withdrawn and he remained living there for four more weeks but did not return to work.

The employer claimed that he had not notified the correct person of his absence, as the other director was not involved in running the hotel at the time. The hotel had to close its bistro on the night of his absence. In his 16 months there, the employee had received no previous warnings or adverse feedback from the employer.

Decision

The Fair Work Commission found that the employee was unfairly dismissed, for the following reasons:

  • He took reasonable steps to notify the employer of his absence.
  • The employer dismissed him by text message and without prior warning, which meant that he had no opportunity to respond before it happened.
  • He had a good previous employment record, and requiring him to vacate his accommodation immediately was unduly harsh.

The FWC added that even taking into account that the employer was a small business with only four employees, its procedures were poor.

Noting that the employer had since ceased trading, and therefore the chef’s employment was unlikely to have lasted much longer, the FWC awarded compensation of $2700.

What this means for employers

Dismissing an employee via text message is not recommended practice, and will generally amount to unfair dismissal. An employee should be personally notified of dismissal (or impending dismissal) and given the reason(s) for it. They should then have an opportunity to respond to the reason(s) before a decision on whether or not to dismiss is made.

In this case, the extra demand to immediately vacate his on-site living arrangements meant the dismissal had a potentially very harsh impact on the employee.

Read the judgment

https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/decisionssigned/pdf/2024fwc229.pdf