The employer, AFS Security 24/7, acted inappropriately in firing security guard Kurt Wallace, who had complained about not being compensated for a work shift and for bringing up other concerns, the FWC noted. Wallace had worked there for more than two years. “Kurt effective immediately we no longer require your services as a casual patrol guard with AFS Security,” read a text from payroll manager Brooke Everett.
Wallace replied to the text asking “please explain" and then called Everett. He received no response. Wallace then visited Everett and she told him she was not required to give him a reason since he was a casual worker, the FWC noted. Ian Cambridge, a Fair Work Commissioner, called the text message to Wallace a “repugnant process” and noted that even with AFS Security being a small business with no human resources specialists, its firing by text approach was “unnecessarily callous.”
Cambridge concluded that Wallace was still eligible for protection against unfair firing even as a casual worker since he had worked for the company on a regular basis and had worked there for more than one year. Wallace, who did not want to return, received A$12,465 in compensation. “The summary dismissal of the applicant was not connected with any discernible reason other than the employer’s mistaken belief that it could dismiss the applicant as a casual employee with or without any articulated reason,” Cambridge noted.