She admitted lying - but the employer skipped every step of a fair process
A childcare centre fired an educator for lying about dropping out of her diploma - and the Fair Work Commission still ruled the dismissal unfair.
The educator had worked at a Frankston-based childcare centre for five years when she was dismissed on April 2, 2026. Her employer terminated her after discovering she had secretly withdrawn from a diploma of education course and lied about it when asked directly.
The Commission found the employer had a valid reason to dismiss. The educator admitted at the hearing that she was dishonest with the centre's director on April 1, 2026, when asked why her diploma trainer had not attended the site that day. She had actually pulled out of the course two weeks earlier, on March 17, and had asked the trainer not to tell her employer.
She later conceded that fear of losing her job - while she was already looking for other work - drove the dishonesty. She apologised the same evening after the director confronted her with an email from the trainer revealing the withdrawal. A termination letter followed the next morning.
But a valid reason alone was not enough. The Commission found serious procedural failures on the employer's part. The educator was not told her job was at risk before the decision to terminate was made. No disciplinary meeting took place. She was never given a chance to respond to the reasons for her dismissal before it was finalised.
The employer also...
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