Log in or become a subscriber

An employer has defended dismissing a manager for encouraging a "culture of drinking and fighting", despite the Fair Work Commission finding its investigation was "flawed".

The Commissioner for Public Employment sacked the Victoria River Research Station (VRRS) manager in March this year for numerous breaches of its code of conduct and the Northern Territory Public Sector Employment and Management (PSEM) Act, related to:

• consuming alcohol while on duty and operating motor vehicles;
• sending a Facebook message to a former worker that said the assistant manager "only got milly to town because he wants to suck your c-ck & f-ck you in the arse so go f-ck yourselves"; and
• adding the assistant manager and another worker to a Facebook Messenger group titled 'Sh-t hot CUintheNT's', which the assistant manager found offensive.

The employer also found the manager had conducted himself in an "improper manner" by having two work-related physical altercations...