Is damage to company property grounds for dismissal

[astina31]

Hello,

We have had an incident at our workplace where a forklift has been run into the roller door and it was damaged.

Accidents happen however:

1. Company directors were not notified.
2. When one on the witnesses were questioned they lied about the incident.
3. The building was left insecure.

The most disappointment part was the lying and the lack of care and consideration for company property.

We are a small business and cannot afford to be broken into.

I want to dismiss both employees. One has 15 years service and the other is casual with 17 months service.

Would appreciate any words of wisdom.

[Moz]

Hi Astina31,

To answer your initial question "Is damage to company property grounds for dismissal?" If it was a genuine mistake, I would say "no". If it was considered "gross misconduct" then "yes", but the definition of gross misconduct isn't clear cut.


If the 15 year employee claimed unfair dismissal, I think the FWC would very likely find in the employees favor. I believe they would consider dismissal for an accident unduly harsh. This of course is just my personal opinion based on numerous other unfair dismissal cases where people have done far worse things and the employer has been ordered to reinstate or pay compensation (or both).

As for the casual worker, I really don't know. If you have been employing that person pretty much continually with regular hours for 17 months then they may now have accrued some rights that a short term casual may not have, nevertheless, you can probably still dismiss them, with notice.