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| Image courtesy of edans |
Fair Work Australia has upheld the dismissal of a worker in circumstances where the dismissal was communicated by way of text message.
Brett Martin worked for DecoGlaze Pty Ltd from September 2006 until his dismissal in May 2011. In February 2011, he had been promoted to the position of a spray painter/foreman.
DecoGlaze Pty Ltd manufactures glass splash backs including for kitchens. To help the paint adhere to glass, an additive, Silane is typically added to the paint. It was Mr Martin's job to maintain stock levels of Silane and, in March 2011, he noticed that stocks were getting low. He ordered more, but there was a delay in receiving the additive.
Mr Martin's evidence was that he was left with a tough decision to make. He either had to cease production on those jobs which required the additive or continue without adding the Silane. Unfortunately for him, and for his employer, he chose the latter option.
Some weeks later, on 13 May 2011, Mr Martin was about to fly out of Australia on a holiday when he received a telephone text message from his managing director, Jason Hedges. Mr Hedges chastised Mr Martin for not using Silane and referred to several jobs coming back defective. A subsequent text message from Mr Hedges referred to $74,000 needing to be outlaid to replace defective painted glass.
And then, a third text message was sent informing the Applicant that he had been instantly dismissed.
Mr Martin claimed that he had not given him an opportunity to defend himself, and raised the inappropriateness of being terminated whilst on leave and by text message.
On 15 September 2011, Fair Work Australia found there was a valid reason for the termination, namely the misconduct of Mr Martin. As to the novel use of technology to dismiss Mr Martin, Commissioner Raffaelli stated:
In most situations, termination of employment by telephone texting is not appropriate. However, in this case I am not prepared to be too critical of [DecoGlaze Pty Ltd]. Indeed, even if there had been a face to face meeting, the outcome would probably have been the same.In our view, the termination of an employee by way of text message would almost always be unreasonable, bearing in mind the personal nature of the employment relationship. The formalities of the employment relationship – the desirability of a written contract (short if necessary) setting out the key terms – need to be matched at the end of the relationship with a degree of process.
As always, the facts of these cases are important. We have summarised them here. No doubt there is more to the story.
The point of this post is to note yet another way in which modern technology is impacting upon the employment relationship.
Partner: Michael Tehan
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