Accepting racism, neo-Nazism is not inclusivity, FWC rules

A senior educator was dismissed after a verbal altercation with a colleague who attended a March for Australia rally in Melbourne in August 2025, with his employer stressing that “inclusivity means being inclusive of all opinions”.

A senior early childhood educator was sacked by his employer, The Grove Children’s Centre, after a verbal altercation over his colleague’s attendance at the March for Australia.

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) declared the dismissal was unfair and awarded the unfairly dismissed educator $41,061.28 on finding that he was dismissed on the grounds of misinformation and that he was not notified of his dismissal, given a chance to respond to the allegations, or allowed a support person during the termination meeting.

FWC commissioner Ben Redford found that the educator’s employer said that he had not upheld the centre’s inclusivity policy as “inclusivity means being inclusive of all opinions, including racist and Nazi opinions”.

Redford ruled this extraordinarily insensitive, humiliating, and harsh, considering the employee’s Maldivian heritage.

“It is reasonable to conclude the protests negatively impacted upon him – particularly the involvement of people such as neo-Nazis, who subscribe to and promulgate racist views,” the commissioner said.

The incident occurred in the centre’s lunchroom during a dispute with a fellow educator in late 2025, and after the educator asked his colleague if she attended the Melbourne March for Australia rallies in August 2025.

The interaction turned sour after his colleague cited her concerns about mass migration pressures, her reason for attending the march.

As a migrant who came to Australia from the Maldives in 2015, the educator submitted that he was upset by this comment.

“If you march with a bunch of self-proclaimed racists and neo-Nazis and proudly talk about this at work, it makes you look like one of them,” he said in rebuttal, before she allegedly walked out of the lunch room.

The verbal altercation was investigated, and his employer terminated him two days later on the grounds that he called his colleague a “neo-Nazi” and a racist, “among other things”, which caused extreme distress for his colleague, and that he posed a significant health and safety hazard.

In his decision, Redford found that these claims were hearsay and were not confirmed by the educator or his colleague.

However, the commissioner accepted his submission that the March for Australia was “extremely disturbing and upsetting” to him.

In addition, Redford found that the educator suffered reputational and economic damage from the dismissal and noted that he is a well-regarded and competent early childhood teacher who commenced service at the centre in 2021.

At the hearing, the commissioner found that he had not been able to obtain employment since his summary dismissal and that his employment would have continued for at least a further 14 months.

Calculated at a cap of 26 weeks of income, Redford ruled the dismissal unfair as it was invalid, and there was insufficient consultation carried out by the employer, ordering The Grove Children’s Centre to pay the worker $41,061.28.

Carlos Tse

Carlos Tse is a graduate journalist writing for Accountants Daily, HR Leader, Lawyers Weekly.

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