Chef fired for threatening boss with mallet, rolling eyes at customers

A chef at a fast-food restaurant, who received a termination letter for threatening his boss with a metal mallet and abandoning employment, has had his unfair dismissal claim dropped.

After threatening his boss with a kitchen mallet, failing to comply with directions regarding his performance and attendance at work, and abandoning his employment as the sole chef in a microbusiness, Samrat Kc was terminated on 23 September 2025.

Kc submitted his unfair dismissal application on 8 October 2025, which was rejected by Fair Work Commission deputy president Melanie Binet in her 10 February 2026 decision.

The chef commenced employment at a small fast-food outlet called Eat House in Perth’s CBD in or around April 2023 and worked for over one year before abandoning his employment.

At 1pm on 22 September 2025, the chef was involved in a verbal altercation with his boss’s wife after she made comments about the cleanliness of the kitchen’s cutlery.

The boss entered the kitchen after hearing Kc tell his wife to “f-ck off” and told the chef to leave, concluding his shift at 2pm.

Later in the day, the boss was told by a kitchen hand that Kc had returned to the shop to take back all his belongings from the outlet.

That night, the boss texted Kc: “Hey I know you took all your stuff from the shop just let me know if you’re not coming in tomorrow so I can organise myself.”

Kc did not respond.

The next day, Kc failed to attend his rostered shift scheduled to start at 6:30am. At 6:37am, he received an “are u [sic] coming” text from his boss.

Shortly before the chef’s shift was scheduled to end, at 1:48pm on 23 September 2025, he was sent a termination letter by email on the grounds that he failed to attend work that day and engaged in misconduct on numerous occasions.

The letter listed incidents of misconduct, including refusing to follow directions given to him by his boss or any other female staff members, rolling his eyes and sighing when customers placed orders, taking personal calls during his shift, and storing empty recycling bottles unhygienically.

In reference to a misconduct allegation in the termination letter, Binet agreed that Kc threatening the boss with a metal meat mallet – requiring a kitchen hand to intervene – and abandoning his role on 23 September 2025, warranted dismissal even if the chef had not abandoned employment.

Upon consideration of all evidence, the commission found that although Eat House issued a termination letter on 23 September 2025, the chef had instead abandoned his employment.

Thus, Binet rejected Kc’s unfair dismissal claim, upholding the cessation of his employment.

The case citation: Samrat Kc v Eat House King Square Pty Ltd (U2025/16174).