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Despite having conducted a 19-month investigation, an employer needed "more robust" evidence to prove an employee deliberately tried to provoke workplace conflict, a commission has ruled.

Queensland Health suspended the electrician in February 2021 over allegations of misconduct and, following an independent investigation and show-cause process, informed him it had substantiated allegations that he:

• harassed a colleague by saying, "gays will burn in hell" and "Elton John is a dirty f-ggot";
• displayed LGBTIQA+ paraphernalia around his workstation in an attempt to create conflict between two colleagues, one of whom was openly gay and the other of whom held strong religious views about homosexuality;
• breached its code of conduct by saying in front of colleagues words to the effect of, "I came in that bitch"; and
• demonstrated a pattern of bullying towards another colleague between 2019 and 2021...