‘You’ll lose your house for this’: Union delegate threatens manager over stand-down

An experienced member of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) has been dismissed from his employment after numerous breaches of his employee contract.

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) recently examined the dismissal of a long-term employee of Veolia, a multinational company operating across Australia in the solid waste, water, and industrials and energy sectors.

Over a nine-month period, the long-term garbage truck driver – a member and delegate of the TWU – was caught up in a series of safety breaches and policy violations, subsequently leading to his dismissal.

Some of the key incidents included the employee having two separate accidents while operating heavy vehicles – in both cases, his lack of caution was noted as deemed a breach of basic safety protocols. The employee also admitted to driving over the 10kph speed limit in the yard, contrary to Veolia’s directions, and continued to drive repeatedly on the operator/pick-up side of the vehicle, claiming it was safer and quicker.

Due to these actions, the employee was stood down from his position by his manager. However, during this stand-down meeting, the employee said words to the effect of: “You will be losing your house over this. That’s what happened to the last person [who] stood down a health and safety representative.”

The employee – who has been a union delegate for approximately 11 years and an elected health and safety representative (HSR) for approximately seven years – then attempted to photocopy his stand-down letter for distribution.

After the employee’s stand-down period, he returned to work. However, during a morning shift, he was found to be in breach of Veolia’s workplace drug and alcohol protocol – with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.013 per cent in his first test and 0.007 per cent in a confirmatory test 24 minutes later.

It was admitted by the employee that he drank six beers the night before at a union dinner and had minimal sleep, but he claimed the results were influenced by “David Beckham cologne” and hand sanitiser. The FWC, however, rejected these arguments.

Based on these findings and Veolia’s zero-tolerance policy (0.00 per cent BAC), the employee was dismissed.

In their review of the unfair dismissal application, the FWC found that his recklessness in attending work after minimal sleep and failing to disclose his alcohol consumption, concluding the breach – combined with his disciplinary history – constituted a valid reason for dismissal.

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The case citation is Mr Roland Barber v Veolia Recycling and Recovery Pty Ltd - [2025] FWC 403.