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A worker who was sacked after running late for a disciplinary meeting about his poor punctuality has lost his unfair dismissal claim.

In January this year the Omega Network rigger/scaffolder left work an hour early without explanation or approval. The employer subsequently gave him a third and final warning, which alluded to previous instances of the same behaviour.

The following month the employee was two hours late for work on two separate occasions, and the employer asked him to attend a disciplinary meeting. He was unable to attend, however, and at a rescheduled meeting he was dismissed.

In unfair dismissal proceedings before Deputy President Janine Young, the employee said that when he left early in January it was a 34-degree day and many others had done the same. He accepted he'd also arrived late and finished early in the past, but claimed he had obtained approval...