{"id":92,"date":"2025-07-27T04:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T04:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justrelations.com.au\/blog\/?p=92"},"modified":"2026-11-04T05:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T05:47:11","slug":"case-study-when-firing-an-employee-for-7-year-old-misconduct-is-ruled-harsh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justrelations.com.au\/blog\/2025\/07\/27\/case-study-when-firing-an-employee-for-7-year-old-misconduct-is-ruled-harsh\/","title":{"rendered":"Case Study: When Firing an Employee for 7-Year-Old Misconduct is Ruled &#8220;Harsh&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Can an employer legally terminate a worker for a serious policy breach that happened nearly a decade ago, even if the employee has had an unblemished record ever since?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A pivotal ruling by the Fair Work Commission explores the legal boundaries of &#8220;historical misconduct,&#8221; workplace boundaries in academic or professional mentoring relationships, and what happens when an employer&#8217;s delayed disciplinary action is deemed overly harsh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Incident: An Intimate Correspondence and a Delayed Complaint<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The case centered around a senior professor and chair of engineering at a prominent Australian university. Back in mid-2017, while navigating a difficult personal separation, the professor engaged in a series of highly inappropriate, intimate, and emotionally charged email and text exchanges with a PhD student under his direct supervision. The student made declarations of love; the professor, though claiming he tried to manage her expectations, continued corresponding in deeply personal, romantic terms. He even explicitly moved the conversation to private email addresses to circumvent corporate internet security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the university&#8217;s human resources department became aware of general &#8220;boundary concerns&#8221; in 2018 and subsequently reassigned the student&#8217;s supervisor, the student did not wish to lodge a formal complaint at that time, and no formal investigation took place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The situation resurfaced seven years later, in January 2024, when the former student filed a formal complaint alleging sexual harassment. An external investigation cleared the professor of sexual harassment but substantiated that his 2017 messages flagrantly breached the university\u2019s Appropriate Workplace Behaviour Policy. Treating this as a case of serious misconduct, the university summarily dismissed the professor in December 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Policy Conflict: &#8220;Out of Hours&#8221; vs. An Ever-Present Workplace<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before the Commission, the professor&#8217;s representative put forward a heavily contested forensic argument: that the intimate communications occurred &#8220;out of hours&#8221; on private accounts and lay outside the employer&#8217;s regulatory domain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Commission categorically rejected this argument, establishing three critical features regarding the nature of professional supervision and mentoring:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\"><strong>The Power Imbalance:<\/strong> A supervisor holds immense power over a candidate&#8217;s academic success, career opportunities, and future references, making strict professional boundaries vital.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>Intense Common Endeavours:<\/strong> Professional relationships of this nature are inherently close and collaborative, meaning personal complications can heavily derail work productivity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>No Set Working Hours:<\/strong> Research and mentorship do not occur exclusively within lecture halls or standard business hours.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Commission ruled that the workplace is effectively present during <em>any<\/em> interaction between a supervisor and a candidate. Moving a conversation to private emails to elude internal security actively proved the professor knew his actions violated policy, making the breach both serious and wilful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why the Dismissal Was Found to Be Unfair<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite confirming that the university possessed a valid, legally sustainable reason to discipline the professor, the Commission ultimately ruled that the summary dismissal was <strong>harsh<\/strong> under section 387(h) of the <em>Fair Work Act 2009<\/em>. The primary factors driving this conclusion included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\"><strong>The Window of Currency and the Passage of Time:<\/strong> Delaying a termination by seven years deprives a worker of the opportunity to pivot their career in a timely manner (in this case, forcing a dismissal at age 62 instead of 55).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>An Unblemished Seven-Year Record:<\/strong> By continuing to employ the professor from 2018 to 2024, the university effectively gave him the opportunity to prove the conduct was an isolated incident. The professor maintained an entirely unblemished disciplinary record throughout those seven years.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>Genuine Remorse and Low Risk:<\/strong> While the professor&#8217;s legal arguments in court downplayed the policy breach, his initial responses to the internal investigation showed genuine insight, unreserved apologies, and accountability. The Commission found no realistic risk of re-offending.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Outcome: A Primary Remedy of Reinstatement<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because the professor\u2019s subsequent seven years of service effectively repaired the breakdown in the employment relationship, the Commission deemed that a loss of trust and confidence was not rationally based.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Fair Work Commission ordered the university to <strong>fully reinstate the professor<\/strong> to his former position with maintained continuity of service. Furthermore, recognizing that the professor had made some attempts to look for work but failed to widely cast his net across private-sector consultancies, the Commission ordered a capped lost-pay remuneration order of <strong>six weeks&#8217; pay<\/strong> (calculating to $28,098.12 gross).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Key Takeaways for Employers<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\"><strong>The Clock is Always Ticking:<\/strong> While an employer is entirely justified in investigating historical complaints, the longer an employee continues working with an unblemished record after the fact, the harder it will be to legally justify a summary dismissal.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>Enforce Boundary Policies Proactively:<\/strong> If human resources or management detects &#8220;boundary blurriness&#8221; or personal friction between supervisors and subordinates, investigate immediately rather than waiting for a formal complaint years down the line.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>Context Explains, But Does Not Excuse:<\/strong> Personal hardships (such as a relationship breakdown) provide critical context for a tribunal evaluating an employee&#8217;s emotional state, but they do not diminish the objective seriousness of a policy breach.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Key Case Details<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\"><strong>Case Number:<\/strong> U2024\/15632 (Decision (2025) FWC 1938)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>Commission Member:<\/strong> Deputy President Colman<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>Applicant&#8217;s Representative:<\/strong> Mr G. Dircks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>Respondent&#8217;s Representative:<\/strong> Mr S. Cheligoy of counsel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Categories &amp; Tags<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\"><strong>Categories:<\/strong> Employment Law, Fair Work Commission Decisions, Workplace Conduct, Reinstatement Remedies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\"><strong>Tags:<\/strong> Serious Misconduct, Historical Conduct, Professional Boundaries, Workplace Policy Breaches, Reinstatement Ordered, Remuneration Lost<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This summary is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can an employer legally terminate a worker for a serious policy breach that happened nearly a decade ago, even if [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[21,20,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-professional-boundaries","category-reinstatement","category-serious-misconduct"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - 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