A woman who was sacked for taking the day off for being hungover has been awarded $8,229 compensation because the Australian Fair Work Commission found the decision was ‘harsh’.
Australian woman Avril Chapman, a fish slicer for salmon producer Tassal Group, was fired after she left a voice message for her boss informing them she wouldn’t be coming to work on her birthday, which was also Anzac Day.
Ms Chapman told her employers she had ‘over indulged’.
An Australian woman was sacked after calling in sick to work because she was hungover (stock image)
The woman was fired after working for salmon producer Tassal Group for five years
‘Um it’s ANZAC day, my birthday, and I admit I have over indulged. So I’m taking into account one of the golden rules – be fit for work – and I’m not going to be fit for work. So I won’t be there,’ she said on the voice message.
‘But um love ya, catch ya on the flip side.’
Tassal sacked Ms Chapman on the basis she ‘deliberately made a decision to consume alcohol to the extent that you would not be fit for work on 26 April 2017’.
Hi Michelle, its Avril one of your most loved pains in the a**e. Um it’s ANZAC day, my birthday, and I admit I have over indulged. So I’m taking into account one of the golden rules – be fit for work – and I’m not going to be fit for work so I won’t be there. But um love ya, catch ya on the flip side.
The voice message Ms Chapman left for her boss 13 hours before her shift began
Ms Chapman said she had visitors arrive unexpectedly at her house on the evening of Anzac Day and they began drinking to celebrate her birthday.
Once she realised the direction the night was heading, she called her boss to let them know she wouldn’t be in the next day.
‘Would it have been wiser for me to call at 6 am on the 26th and plead illness? I think if I had done that…it wouldn’t have been the honest thing to do in my opinion,’ she told the Commission.
David Barclay, Deputy President of the Commission, said: ‘I have found there was a valid reason for her dismissal but that it was harsh.’
However Mr Barclay still found Ms Chapman had refused to attend work without reasonable justification.
Ms Chapman said she had visitors arrive unexpectedly at her house on the evening of Anzac Day, her birthday (stock image)
‘It makes no sense to me that a person at 4.46 p.m, some 13 hours before having to work, and before being involved in any activities which might result in impairment for work would decide to predict that she will be unfit to work the next day,’ he said.
Ms Chapman’s day off to nurse a birthday hangover came a year after she was given a written warning for a similar incident after Christmas.
Her sacking was found to be valid by the Fair Work Commission but was ruled as ‘harsh’ (stock image)
She left an expletive ridden message for her employer after finding out her brother was dying of advanced lung cancer.
‘I won’t be at work today. I am non compos mentis, which means I’m f***in’ s***faced,’ she said in the message.
Mr Barclay said the sacking was unfair because it was the first time Ms Chapman had behaved in such a way in her five years working for Tassal’s.
Ms Chapman was awarded $8,229 in compensation after the Commission found it inappropriate to reinstate her.