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Touching a female colleague on the bottom was "sufficiently serious to justify summary dismissal", the Fair Work Commission has found in rejecting an employee's unfair dismissal claim.

The employee, an advanced mechanical tradesperson at Alcoa's Pinjarra Alumina Refinery, claimed he simply touched his colleague to "move her out of the way", but Deputy President Melanie Binet rejected this was so, noting that in any case, he could have "gained her attention by gently touching her arm".

In unfair dismissal proceedings, she heard the incident occurred when the employee, his colleague, and the lead hand, whom they both reported to, were in an office at the site.

According to the employee, who had worked for the company for almost 20 years, he needed to walk past the colleague through a gap between desks, to speak to the lead hand...