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It was "hypercritical" of an HR practitioner to characterise an employee's allegations against his manager as "misleading", when the facts underpinning them were essentially true, the Fair Work Commission has found.

It was also "entirely unsound" to find that the employee "directed" a coworker to complain about the manager, Commissioner Benjamin Redford said.

The employee had worked for Winc Australia Pty Limited, an office equipment and IT solutions supplier, for nearly 19 years when he was sacked in March this year.

The employer contended it had a valid reason to terminate him, after an investigation found he had: influenced and encouraged a "concerted effort by staff of the Hobart facility" to attempt to remove his direct manager from his position; raised "false and misleading" concerns against the manager; victimised the manager, by directing an employee to make a complaint against him; and performed unsatisfactorily...