At the end of the day Mr D. at reached for his lighter and found both his lighter and the Ute he was driving’s door handle covered in grease. Mr D. thought that one of his co-workers Shane had put the grease on the items deliberately and reached for a rag and wiped his hands. He then heard an expletive and was hit on the side of the face with a safety helmet because the rag was actually Shane’s jersey who had taken offence at Mr D. using it to wipe the grease from his hands.
Mr D. ended up with a lump on his left eye brow and concussion. Mr D. said he also had a headache for some time and still experienced them attributing the headaches to the assault.
When he got home Mr D. sent a text to his employer saying that he had been assaulted. The employer responded “there really ain’t much can do mayb you should have used rag instead of his top still no reason to throw things around hope hat ok and not broke start costing money”.
The following day Mr D. arrived at the site and said that it was clear to him that nobody was taking the assault seriously. Later that day he blacked out while operating a chainsaw.
That night he sent another text to his employer saying that he felt that he was being intimidated and no longer felt safe with Shane in a vehicle. The employer replied “where to from here then? what’s been done is done I had talked what you want me to do now? If he lays a finger on you it’s a police matter just like anyone hitting you”.
The employer later texted the unfortunate turn of phrase “yes I know but way it is you may have to harden up a bit and I will put something on paper and send it out with payslip to him we not making money biggest problem to me”.
The case goes on and on where they then started arguing about chainsaws and it ended up that Mr D. wrote tendering his resignation saying that he could no longer work for the company given the assault and the employer’s handling of it which meant he was no longer safe in the work place.
Not surprisingly the ERA concluded that the employer had breached its obligations on a number of levels. It was found that he had been unjustifiably dismissed and the employer was ordered to give lost wages, $10,000.00 compensation and costs.
Oh – and to all of you complaining about the Christmas rush. Harden up.
