The Workplace Relations Commission found that a Flight Attendant’s dismissal was fair after he took a co-pilot’s sunglasses from a crew room. In a decision dated 19 May 2017, the adjudication officer said the worker’s explanation about taking the glasses to return them to airport workers did not stand up to scrutiny.
The cabin crew provider said the co-pilot had left the designer sunglasses on a flight and they later went missing from the crew room. CCTV identified the worker taking them. He said he believed the glasses belonged to an airport worker and that he returned them with an apology after discovering his mistake.
The WRC noted that the worker was able to recover the glasses after saying he had no contact details for the people he claimed he had tried to return them to. The provider’s handbook treated theft from an employee, the company or passengers as grounds for dismissal. The adjudication officer found the dismissal fair in all the circumstances.