A valid reason to dismiss, a clean record, and the steps the Commission found were missed
A safety breach gave an employer a valid reason to dismiss a worker. The Fair Work Commission still found the dismissal unfair.
In a decision issued on July 14, 2026, the Commission found that a mechanical fitter and leading hand on the Snowy 2.0 hydro project had not followed the site's permit-to-work and isolation procedures during a pipe inspection. That gave his employer, SC Hydro Pty Ltd, a valid reason to dismiss him. The Commission nonetheless held the dismissal was harsh and unreasonable, based on how the disciplinary process was handled.
The worker and a co-worker inspected pipework on a wastewater settling tank on June 11, 2025. They assessed the task as low risk and used a single-point isolation rather than signing on to the full permit. Other crew members raised concerns that the correct isolation steps had not been followed. A health and safety investigation and a separate industrial relations investigation followed. The worker was stood down on pay in late June 2025 and dismissed on January 19, 2026, after about three and a half years of service and with no prior disciplinary record.
The Commission accepted that the worker had not complied with the permit and the isolation and tagging procedure, and that this was a valid reason for dismissal. But it pointed to several matters that, taken together, made the dismissal harsh and unreasonable.
The employer's stated reason...
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