QLD Employment Law - Unfair Dismissal on Walkout?

[Mich Joy]

I was dismissed from my position and I need some opinions, please.

My boss accused me of something I didn’t do. I stuck up for myself. She kept asking the same questions over & over to which I said you’re not listening to me & left her office. I grabbed my bag & left the building. She came after me & asked the same questions again.

As I walked away she yelled across the car park if you leave you’re not coming back. I was accused of being a troublemaker & bully. She was not listening to me. And she badgered me over & over with the same questions. I felt I had to leave the situation was just getting more heated.

Would you consider this a sacking or that I quit under Employment Law?

 

[Rod]

When did this happen?

It may be sacking, but can be complicated because you left your place of employment during the allotted work time.

If this happened today and you want to keep your job, go back to work tomorrow. Then see if she insists you have been sacked.

 

[Mich Joy]

When did this happen?

It may be sacking, but can be complicated because you left your place of employment during the allotted work time.

If this happened today and you want to keep your job, go back to work tomorrow. Then see if she insists you have been sacked.

It was cpl days ago. I tried to tell my side of story the following day (Saturday) then Sunday night I got a msg saying we will pay you 2 weeks. Best wishes?

I felt I had to leave the workplace as I felt harassed & she was not listening to me. She kept repeating the same questions & whatever response I gave she didn’t like it. It was like she was baiting me & not ever tried to diffuse the situation.

:-(

 

[Rod]

Talk to a lawyer for 30 mins to see if you have any rights.

There are a couple of hurdles to jump, like size of employer, how long you've been working there, type of employment (ie casual, perm, temp, part-time), whether any award provisions apply, etc before looking at any payout you may receive.

 

[Mich Joy]

Talk to a lawyer for 30 mins to see if you have any rights.

There are a couple of hurdles to jump, like size of employer, how long you've been working there, type of employment (ie casual, perm, temp, part-time), whether any award provisions apply, etc before looking at any payout you may receive.

Yeah, I’ve checked everything else out it’s the walk out bit that’s the issue. I walked out for a reason. I didn’t just go unprovoked. I’m getting mixed msgs. It really shouldn’t be a sackable offence. I’ll try another lawyer today. 1 lawyer said it was abandonment.

So frustrating! What a great time to show your a heartless so & so.

 

[Scruff]

I was accused of being a trouble maker & bully.

By who? If someone made a complaint against you, then it could have big impact on any outcome here.

It seems to me that there's more to this than you're letting on. It reads like a standard 3 act screenplay with the 2nd act what you described above and the 3rd act the result of any action now to be taken. The problem is that the 1st act is totally blank.

Without an idea of what led up to the dispute you described (and I am specifically talking about the above allegation), I don't see how anyone can provide anything helpful, because any advice can only be given on the assuption that you haven't done anything wrong. But that may not be the case at all.

I guess my point is that you say "My boss accused me of something I didn’t do" but you don't explain if this came direct from the boss or if they are acting on someone elses complaint. Either way, something like this doesn't normally just pop up out of the blue in a "harmonious" workplace. So what do think it was that happened that led up to this?

 

[Mich Joy]

I wasn’t going to write the full story word for word on a site where I know no one.

I was wrongly accused of yelling at a co-worker. It never happened. At all hence me leaving as I was accused wrongly & my boss would listen to my side & kept badgering me with the same questions over & over. No matter how I answered she kept saying the same things.

There no scene dramas here. Just a person wanting to get some help on whether me walking off the job due to being harassed by my boss is classed as abandonment.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Mich Joy]

* wouldn’t listen

 

[Scruff]

Okay, so if this is only about a single case of "yelling", then even if true, I don't see how that would constitue "bullying". I think they would need more than one example to justify dismissal on those grounds. Also, remember that there's always two sides to every story, and clearly that's the case here considering the boss wouldn't even listen to you.

If you end up pursuing any action in regard to unfair dismissal, then you need to assume that they will defend themselves by claiming dismissal was justified. Since there is an allegation of bullying, I would start thinking now about anything at all from the past that they might bring up to show a "pattern of behaviour". There might be some things that have happened that you consider trivial or not even relevant, but you should assume that they will bring up anything at all to support their case. So write down anything you can think of and then evaluate how to go about challenging each item you come up with.

Given that they offered "2 weeks", it appears that they definately consider the relationship terminated - but exactly how that occurred is the question. So in regard to that and whether or not it was "abandonment", it looks a bit tricky and out of my depth, so I'll leave that one in @Rod's hands.

 

[Rod]

Really need a lawyer to sit down with you and go through the events in detail. It is the detail that will determine whether abandonment occured. At face value the employer can claim abandonment, and then it likely becomes your job to prove it was not.