One dismissal ground collapsed at the tribunal - the second one still ended her case
A cruise operator sacked a night porter on two grounds. A tribunal rejected one - and still upheld the dismissal.
On September 8, 2026, the Fair Work Commission found that Captain Cook Cruises had a valid reason to dismiss one of its night porters, and that the sacking was not harsh, unjust or unreasonable. It threw out her unfair dismissal claim.
Two duties sat at the centre of the case. Overnight on a Murray River cruise vessel, the worker had to check the ship's engine every hour and sign a logbook to confirm each check. Those entries did two jobs. They told the captain the generator was running safely, and because she worked alone through the night, they also kept tabs on her - a missing entry was the captain's cue to make sure she was okay.
The company dismissed her on February 5, 2026. It relied on allegations that she had spoken rudely to the captain on December 1, 2025 and had signed off engine checks before carrying them out on January 13, 2026. Its letter to her set out three allegations in all, and the termination letter upheld two of them.
On the rudeness, the Commission sided with the worker. She accepted her tone had been inappropriate, but the evidence showed she still did her job that shift as directed. Rudeness on its own, the Commission found, was not a valid reason to dismiss her.
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