When being yourself amounts to serious misconduct
‘Reason’ can be defined as a rational ground or motive, a sufficient ground of justification or a statement offered in explanation. Alternatively, it can be described as a rather good rock pop song from the early 2000s. Apologies if that song is now playing in your head.
In employment law, an employer is required to provide an employee with reasons for their dismissal, as well as taking the proper procedural steps before letting someone go. An employer’s decision must also be fair and justified. So while not liking an employee personally may be a reason to avoid them, it is not a valid reason for dismissing them.
Decisions, decisions, decisions
I find Simon Sinek profoundly irritating. Those of you who have been exposed to him know that he has obtained a cult following on the Internet. If you have not been exposed to Simon then I am not encouraging you to look him up.
I have been forced to take to my dictaphone about this latest quote that came across my Linkedin page “There is no such thing as a good or bad decision”.
The Great Fish & Chip Incident of 2007
It is important in business, as it is in life, to read the small print. This is also true when you are signing employment agreements.
I say this to lead into a public apology that I feel obligated to make following the Cottage Kindergarten’s disco and fish and chip night.*
Who is recording you?
Under the Crimes Act, it is a crime to record a private conversation that you are not a party to. The offence requires you to deliberately record people in conversation who believe that they have an expectation of privacy.
It is not, however, an offence to record a conversation that you are a party to. Despite this, the legality of recording conversations where only one party knows they are being recorded does get hazy in the employment sphere.
Dismissed for taking a muesli bar from a kid
Mr E was employed at a supermarket as a ‘loss prevention officer’ from November 2012. My interpretation of this job is like a security officer for food. Personally I’m not sure I could sit and watch people buy food all day, I’d get jealous. One of the required tasks of Mr E’s role was to monitor the cameras that overlook the self-checkout area to ensure customers were actually paying for the products.
The employee noticed a child in the self-checkout area eating a muesli bar, which he thought had come from the store. He called the supervisor in charge of the checkout on the floor to inform her of what he had seen. Mr E maintained that to do this was common practice and consistent with the training he had received. Seems like the logical thing to do, right? However upon being approached by the supervisor, the customer said she felt as though she was being accused of theft and made a complaint. As it turns out she had scanned the barcode for a box of muesli bars, and simply given the kid one.
