AUSTRALIA
Clayton Utz
By Jennifer Wyborn and Nick West-Foy.
Key Points:
Employers will probably be protected from unfair dismissal claims by employees who are subsequently convicted, but it will be harder to resist claims from employees who are subsequently found to have no case to answer.
Allegations of child sex abuse are extremely serious. When they occur in the workplace they raise questions relating to the security and health and safety of a range of parties. One would think the ability to terminate an employee accused of such behaviour in a school setting would be uncontroversial. A recent decision, however, suggests that this is not so and employers must now grapple with two cases providing conflicting guidance on terminating employees in these situations.
The most recent decision from the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) specifically considers the scenario where a teacher is charged with offences relating to child sex abuse and whether or not termination of employment in circumstances where an employee is not qualified to work with children can amount to unfair dismissal.
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