Asleep on the job?

Yesterday, in a case that could have come from Seinfeld were it not so sad, the Commission rejected an unfair dismissal claim even though many of the grounds for dismissal were not made out or did not warrant dismissal.

The employer was a charitable organisation that provides high support accommodation to vulnerable clients.

The employer alleged that, while on overnight shifts, the employee had: not helped a client who was vocalising and hitting her head against a wall, not changed a client’s incontinence pads, watched movies, not emptied a dishwasher and not kept the doors locked. The Commission found that all of these allegations were either not substantiated or, if they were, the “penalty of dismissal would be disproportionate to the conduct”.

However, the Commission was satisfied that the applicant had set up a camp bed with blankets in a darkened room and spent time there with the door closed. Though the Commission didn’t find that the applicant was asleep in the room, the circumstances were fundamentally inconsistent with the applicant’s role of supporting vulnerable clients. On that basis, the dismissal was not harsh, unjust or unreasonable.

You can read the full decision here.