Log in or become a subscriber

A Fair Work Commission full bench has denied an employer permission to appeal against reinstating a sacked worker, ruling there were no errors in a previous finding that the dismissal was valid, but unreasonable.

In February this year, FWC Deputy President Judith Wright found Hutchison Ports Sydney had unfairly dismissed an employee who breached the company's drug and alcohol policy by blowing over the allowable BAC limit of 0.00.

The Commission heard that the employee consumed a glass of wine 30 minutes before commencing his shift on 31 March 2024. After being involved in an on-site accident, he was breath tested, returning an initial blood alcohol concentration reading of 0.025, then a confirmatory BAC reading of 0.017.

At the time of the incident, the company's D&A policy specified that the allowable BAC reading for where the employee worked was 0.00. However, this had changed from 0.02 just a few weeks earlier...