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The seriousness of an employee's misconduct outweighed the personal and professional harshness of his dismissal, the Fair Work Commission has ruled, finding it was fair to sack him for hitting a minor with a tennis racquet.

The Commission heard that on a hot day in February this year three students under the age of 18 were "messing about" during a tennis lesson at Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club when one of them spat some water, hitting the coach's face.

The employee chased the student, hit his hip with a tennis racquet and told him off. (The employee said he never intended to hit the student, but conceded that the racquet may have touched him.)

After the student apologised, he alleged the employee said, "I don't care about your f-cking apology"...