Dismissed worker wins reinstatement after emotional outburst at staff meeting

A powerline worker who was dismissed after calling his colleague a “f-cking dog” at a meeting, won his unfair dismissal application, after giving evidence that the behaviour was uncharacteristic of him.

In a case that went to a hearing before the Fair Work Commission on 3 and 4 September 2025, Benjamin Hayden Lewis’ unfair dismissal case for his 14 May 2025 dismissal was accepted, after he was found to have behaved in an aggressive and threatening manner towards a colleague during a work meeting on 20 February 2025.

In its 30 January 2026 decision, Fair Work Commission deputy president Judith Wright ordered Lewis’ employer, Essential Energy, to reinstate him, finding that, despite a valid dismissal, there were procedural deficiencies in the investigation process and that Lewis’ conduct during the incident was uncharacteristic of him, considering his personal extenuating circumstances.

The commission ruled the dismissal unfair, ordering that Lewis be reinstated to his former position and paid compensation for the period between his unfair dismissal and his reinstatement.

An apprentice’s job

Lewis commenced employment with Essential Energy as an apprentice line worker on or about 9 September 2009 at its Leeton Depot in NSW’s Riverina region. Following the completion of his apprenticeship, Lewis has worked for the company ever since.

On 19 February 2025, leading hand powerline worker, Michael Meline picked up a truck from Wagga Wagga, which confused Lewis, as Meline had previously “given him a serve” for doing the same thing in 2020.

The commission heard that when Lewis went to pick up a truck from Wagga Wagga on 27 October 2020, Meline allegedly told Lewis that he should have gotten an apprentice to pick up the truck instead, allegedly saying “Ben does f-ck all while we [remainder of Mr Meline’s crew] do all the work”.

After Meline returned from picking up the truck from Wagga Wagga on 19 February 2025, his colleagues spoke about this on the Leeton Depot’s group chat, with Lewis typing: “Thought only the apprentices were meant to do that”, which he submitted was banter.

The incident

Lewis said that on the week of 17 February 2025, he went to work as usual, but not feeling like his regular self and his “train of thought at the time was to suppress what he was feeling and get on with things”, the commission found.

During this period, he said that there were circumstances that were causing unbearable personal stress at the time, including his daughter experiencing bullying at school over the past year, having to care for his father, who was diagnosed with lymphoma, which was told to have metastasised, and his aunt whom he was very close with was put into palliative care on 19 February 2025.

On 20 February 2025, Lewis went to the morning toolbox meeting, where electrical technician Corey Ryan joked: “Do I need to bring some popcorn?” in reference to the team’s group chat conversation the previous day. In response, Lewis responded with a joke saying something to the effect of “you’ll be hiding under the table”, which Lewis said was also a bit of stupid banter.

During the meeting, Lewis said that Meline said words to the effect of “there have been a few comments made about me going to pick up the truck … I was selected by our resource supervisor to pick up the truck. He approached me to do it,” saying that if anyone had an issue with this, they could take it up with the senior operations supervisor at the Leeton Depot Andrew Sidebottom.

Lewis said that he felt angry hearing this and said that when he started responding to Meline, he lost all control and said words to the effect of “You treated me horrible when you were my leading hand. You’re a big man hiding behind the orange shirt. If we were outside, you wouldn’t be so tough, you f-cking dog … he needs a punch in the head”. He said he did not intend to say this and that his emotions took over and he lost control.

Lewis submitted that when he said “if we were outside”, he was referring to how Meline would not treat Lewis the same way if they were outside of work. Following this tirade, Lewis walked towards the exit, crying, saying to Sidebottom, “No, he (Meline) can get f-cked, Andrew”, before he left the meeting.

Following the incident, Lewis showed remorse, saying that difficult personal circumstances, including his father’s and aunt’s sickness, contributed to his emotional outburst at the meeting, with his GP diagnosing this outburst as anxiety from his overwhelming personal issues.

An investigation ensued into Lewis’ conduct, leading to his eventual termination effective 14 May 2025.

The ruling

The commission found that Essential Energy made procedural deficiencies in not addressing the mitigating factors raised by Lewis when deciding to terminate him, including his lengthy period of service, difficult personal circumstances, genuine expressions of remorse, and the “unlikelihood of the conduct recurring given that it was uncharacteristic and that Mr Lewis is seeking treatment for his mental health issues”.

Although Wright ruled his conduct a valid reason for dismissal, in consideration of these factors, she found that termination was harsh and unreasonable, thus finding the termination unfair.

Thus, Wright ordered that Essential Energy reinstate Lewis to his prior position and compensate him for lost wages for the period from his termination up until his reinstatement, less 20 per cent for his misconduct.

The case citation: Benjamin Hayden Lewis v Essential Energy (U2025/9445).