Fair Work Commission Finds Dismissal Over Road Rage Valid
Friday 6 January 2017 @ 10.55 a.m. | Industrial Law
An employee who was sacked for aggressive behaviour during a road-rage incident has lost his unfair dismissal claim before the Fair Work Commission.
Background
The employee was a South Australian electrical technician working for Spectrum Fire, a subsidiary of Engie. At the time of the event, the employee was driving home in a company car with a colleague. The car was approaching a section of road in which a dual-lane road narrowed into one. When the road became dual lane again, a young female driver drove up next to the car and gave him the finger. The employee responded by winding down his window and exchanging ‘heated words’ with the female driver.
The situation further escalated when the female driver drove up before the car and began to hit the brakes repeatedly while in front of him simply to annoy him. Eventually, both drivers pulled into a side street where the female driver exited her car and began to film the employee. After more “heated words”, the pair agreed to go to a police station. However, this never eventuated as the female driver identified the man as working for Spectrum and exclaimed “Ah, Spectrum Fire, now you’re stuffed.”
The man then returned to his car where he began revving his engine behind her vehicle and moving his vehicle even closer to hers.
The woman lodged a formal complaint with Spectrum and the employee was investigated by Engie. Engie found that he was the aggressor in the incident and that he had engaged in serious misconduct.
Fair Work Commission
Fair Work Commissioner Peter Hampton found the dismissal to be valid. He commented:
“Although she was mainly responsible for the initial events ... the conduct of [the former worker] in following her, coming to her window, and then aggressively moving his vehicle up even closer behind her ... would reasonably be understood to be intimidating and aggressive,”
Commissioner Hampton found that despite the female driver being the aggressor in the event, he was convinced that the employee’s retaliatory conduct was serious misconduct. Commissioner Hampton could see no evidence to persuade him that the dismissal was harsh, unjust or unreasonable.
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