A direct instruction to read one short policy went ignored - and it decided the case
A veteran banker said he was drowning in work. The Fair Work Commission still upheld his sacking.
A National Australia Bank business banking manager has lost his unfair dismissal case, after the Fair Work Commission found the bank was entitled to dismiss him for repeatedly failing to report overdue financial covenants and for refusing a direct instruction to read the policy that governed them.
In a decision issued on August 6, 2026, the Commission dismissed the application and ruled the dismissal was not harsh, unjust or unreasonable.
The worker moved into a senior business banking role in September 2024 and took on the bank's broker-introduced customers. His pay rose from $135,000 to $165,000. He said he felt underwater almost immediately - working up to 18 hours a day, weekends included, and struggling with new systems and a heavy workload.
The relationship deteriorated quickly. He was placed on a performance plan within weeks. In November 2024 he received a first and final written warning over casual emails to brokers and for contacting them outside business hours. In February 2025 came a second and final warning, this one tied to overdue financial covenants - the reporting checks banks use to monitor risk on their lending.
That covenant issue is what decided the case. The February warning came with a direction: read the covenants policy and confirm he had done so. He refused. Asked by...
By Chukwuma Umeorah OPay Digital Services has dismissed as “false, malicious and misleading” a viral social media publication claiming that the fintech company would suspend operations from Septem...