Geelong Advertiser

TAC staffer sacked for rolling eyes

- REBEKAH CAVANAGH

A SACKED TAC worker was unfairly dismissed amid allegation­s he rolled his eyes in a meeting.

Matthew Morrissy, 50, went to the Fair Work Commission after being told his job of almost 14 years with the Transport Accident Commission was being terminated in June last year.

Mr Morrissy claimed his dismissal was “harsh, unjust or unreasonab­le”.

But the TAC said “serious misconduct” by him – including rolling his eyes and rocking back and forth in his seat “as though he was trying to contain his anger” in a team meeting – justified ending his employment.

Fair Work commission­er Sophie Mirabella this week ruled the TAC’s firing of Mr Morrissy was unfair.

“Whether Mr Morrissy had rolled his eyes or not, or rocked in his chair, this cannot reasonably be considered a sackable offence and certainly not an act of gross misconduct,” Ms Mirabella said. “There is no valid reason for Mr Morrissy’s dismissal related to his conduct or any breach of policy.

“An absence of a valid reason weighs in favour of the conclusion that the dismissal was unfair.”

The road safety regulator had told a Fair Work hearing Mr Morrissy breached multiple company policies, pointing to his behaviour in Zoom meetings in August 2020 and March last year.

It said it had received complaints by other staff after the August meeting, claiming the staffer had spoken to a female colleague in an “aggressive and offensive” tone when he hinted she should suggest ideas when she did not like those put by their team manager.

The next month, he was called to a meeting with management, where he was counselled, and later offered an apology to the woman for his “disrespect­ful tone”.

But it did not end there, with the TAC engaging an external party to report on how best Mr Morrissy and the woman could work more productive­ly together.

In March last year, Mr Morrissy was hauled back before another meeting to discuss the report’s findings.

At that meeting, he said he was “gobsmacked” when a TAC in-house solicitor was allowed to read out a statement that included her own history of surviving abuse at the hands of a former partner and the “possible impact” of Mr Morrissy’s conduct during the August meeting she did not attend. He advised he believed the dispute between him and his female colleague at that meeting had been dealt with six months earlier.

Further complaints were made, claiming he rolled his eyes and had no sympathy for the solicitor, who was an abuse survivor, when she read her statement.

He denied rolling his eyes and was stood down with pay while an investigat­ion took place.

A month later, his boss, Damian Poel, sacked him, despite being advised by human resources that a warning would be a suitable punishment.

Ms Mirabella said Mr Morrissy had an “unblemishe­d performanc­e record” and was keen to return to his job as an interstate claims co-ordinator, assisting Victorians who had been injured in crashes while interstate.

The commission­er said there was no reason he should not be reinstated, with the TAC office in Geelong of significan­t size to move him to a new team.

But she asked the TAC to provide further written submission­s before she made any order to give Mr Morrissy’s job back or pay him for remunerati­on lost.

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