Fired traffic controller urinated in front of colleagues, allegedly leered at women

A traffic controller sought compensation for what he alleged was an unfair dismissal for urinating in front of his colleagues and claims of targeting female co-workers with “long stares”.

A 68-year-old casual traffic controller and ute driver was dismissed by Queensland-based traffic management operator Avada Traffic in mid-2025 for alleged misconduct, including leaving his post to scout for a new hall for his church, urinating on a tree in front of a colleague, and failure to promptly report his involvement in a motor vehicle accident on the job.

Emmanuel John Tischler worked with the operator for nearly five years until he was dismissed for four allegations of misconduct.

Tischler told the Fair Work Commission that his dismissal was unfair and that he was not involved in any deliberate or wilful behaviour that would constitute misconduct, saying that he could not be “legally, morally, or ethically terminated”, and sought $50,000,000 in damages.

Despite this, Avada asserted that Tischler’s conduct had the potential to cause a serious and imminent risk to the safety of its reputation, staff, clients, and the public.

One month before he was sacked, Tischler went to a 7-Eleven service station to buy a coffee and was involved in a motor vehicle accident with a member of the public when he went to reverse the company ute.

Tischler refused to exchange details with the driver but took a photo of the damage and number plate in case he received anything from the insurer, FWC commissioner Chris Simpson heard.

Avada asserted that his failure to report the incident to his supervisor immediately breached its Vehicle and Equipment Use Policy.

“[Tischler] should have reported the incident promptly to [Avada], despite the other person involved apparently refusing to share information with him, and despite his doubts about whether he had caused the damage to the other car,” the commissioner said.

Avada submitted that six days before his dismissal, Tischler was sent to work for Veolia Environmental Services, which worked on behalf of Queensland government water utility provider Urban Utilities. Tischler was assigned to the crew that worked on a sewer line at 19 Lotus Street, Woolloongabba.

That day, Tischler was assigned to a specific location to be on pedestrian and traffic watch near the sewer line; however, he moved away from his station and engaged with other workers while they were inspecting the maintenance hole attached to the sewer line with a video camera trolley.

Avada alleged that Tischler stood over the hole without authorisation and looked inside while turning his back to the traffic he was meant to be controlling, placing him, pedestrians, and his colleagues in danger.

Tischler told the commission that he was part of a church looking for a new location. He told the commission that during that shift, he got bored and was doing nothing, so he walked to a private hall at 19 Lotus Street, Woolloongabba.

“He walked over to [the hall], walked up a flight of stairs, and was looking through windows, even went to put his arm in the window to pry back the curtains. Where I then had to disrupt my site talk to stop him and advise him that what he was doing was inappropriate,” the Veolia environmental services supervisor on duty said in her complaint to Avada.

“Throughout the day, my general observations were that [Tischler] was making my female staff members uncomfortable with long stares, being too close to them when they were working, and he was not focused on his direct role of traffic control.

“There was talk that this controller, also on a previous jobsite with a different Veolia crew, urinated into a bottle and proceeded to tip it out in front of our Veolia crew.”

Tischler told the commission that this did not constitute misconduct, as he could find no details regarding “urinating into a dark plastic water bottle” in his employer’s Safety and Well Being policy and the Safe Work Method Statement. He added that as a traffic worker, he is supposed to drink a certain amount of water to stay hydrated.

Avada told the commission that traffic controllers are permitted to leave the site to visit a toilet, and there is a rotation of duties every two hours, as well as 15-minute breaks and meal breaks.

After he was terminated for these allegations on 26 August, Avada alleged that Tischler “proceeded to harass staff, clients, and senior managers via email and phone calls, despite requests to stop this contact,” the commissioner found.

Subsequently, Avada issued a cease-and-desist letter to him on 4 September 2025, prohibiting him from contacting Avada employees, executives, or clients.

In his efforts to become re-employed, Tischler told the commission that prospective employer Schramm Traffic Control Company was sent a copy of the invitation to the show-cause meeting email.

Another prospective employer, Altus, refused to hire him and cancelled his induction after learning of a complaint.

In consideration of all evidence, Simpson ruled that there was a valid reason for dismissal and that Tischler was provided procedural fairness, the dismissal was not unfair, and dismissed his application.

Carlos Tse

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

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