The Fair Work Commission has upheld Alcoa’s summary dismissal of a veteran employee for touching a female inappropriately as he squeezed past her.
Already a subscriber?The Fair Work Commission has warned workers there are now higher standards for physical interactions in the workplace after throwing out a veteran employee’s claim he was unfairly sacked for touching a female co-worker inappropriately as he squeezed past her.
Bosses and workers were on notice that they were subject to stricter standards, she said, particularly in the mining industry. A female colleague alleged that while she was talking with other employees in a small office at the refinery, Mr Tamaliunas forced his way through a narrow gap between her and a desk that meant he had to physically touch her.As he moved past, he turned his back to her but held his hands out behind him and allegedly touched her “underneath her buttocks”.
Ms Binet said that, “sadly”, Mr Tamaliunas’ lawyers chose to follow a “well-worn but discredited path of blaming the victim for the contact”. They argued that by standing in the narrow walkway, the woman should have foreseen that someone may accidentally touch her as they moved around the office.
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