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An employee has won the right to appeal the rejection of his unfair dismissal claim, after an informal discussion escalated into a termination meeting.

Hearing the original claim in March this year, Commissioner Leyla Yilmaz found the Johns Lyng Group employee had set out to cause marital problems for his manager, neglected his duties, and breached his employment contract. The employer's reasons for dismissing him were valid, she found, but because its procedure was unfair, she ordered payment of one week's wages.

The employee sought permission to appeal the decision, and a full bench granted this on the grounds of public interest, finding Commissioner Yilmaz "failed to make the requisite finding that the dismissal was harsh, unjust or unreasonable and therefore unfair".

It was clear the Commissioner had "turned her mind" to the question, the bench said. She observed that a meeting, called to discuss "some issues and concerns", unfairly escalated into dismissal...