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"Numerous and significant" mitigating factors meant that despite her "brutal public humiliation" of another worker, a long-serving employee has successfully appealed against her proposed dismissal.

A Fair Work Commission full bench comprising Vice President Ingrid Asbury, and Deputy Presidents Alan Colman and Bernadette O'Neill, found the employee's conduct was "inexcusable", but also partly explained by her poor emotional state at the time .

The Parks Victoria employee was appealing against a decision handed down in December last year, in which Commissioner Mark Perica found her proposed dismissal for misconduct was a "discipline outcome that is fair and reasonable in all the circumstances and not disproportionate to the seriousness of the matter", in accordance with the employer's enterprise agreement.

The full bench heard the employee, who had 21 years of unblemished service with the employer, managed a gift shop at the Dandenong Botanical Gardens.

She often received complaints from the public about a commercially leased café nearby, despite having no responsibility for it, and in August 2023, when customers complained to her that the café was open but not staffed, she went to investigate...