A Fair Work Commission decision handed down this week shows the real reason behind a dismissal can be very different from the one an employer leads with
A night porter on a Murray River paddle steamer who spoke rudely to her captain kept her job over that outburst. It was a set of safety logs, signed off before the checks they recorded had actually happened, that ended it.
In a decision published on 8 September 2026, Fair Work Commissioner Rogers dismissed the unfair dismissal application of the worker against Captain Cook Cruises Pty Ltd (CCC). The company had a valid reason to sack her, just not the one it perhaps expected to rely on most heavily.
What counts as a "valid reason"? Under s.387 of the Fair Work Act 2009, the Commission weighs whether there was a sound reason connected to the person's conduct or capacity, whether they were told about it and given a chance to respond, and whether dismissal was a proportionate response overall. An employer can lose on one allegation and still win on another, as CCC did here.
The worker in question was the sole overnight Night Porter on the PS Murray Princess, the paddle-wheeler that cruises the Murray River out of Mannum, South Australia. CCC dismissed her on 5 February 2026 over two things: speaking rudely to the captain on 1 December 2025, and pre-signing engine-room safety logs on 13 January 2026, then denying it when questioned.
On the first, the Commission accepted the worker's...
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