Not so merry: Santa hat-wearing public servant loses job over Christmas biff
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A worker had his dismissal upheld by the Fair Work Commission after it found that he had biffed a colleague after a verbal tit for tat, leaving him “dazed and confused”.
Arts Centre Melbourne’s (ACM) dismissal of its building maintenance officer, Cameron Bell, has been confirmed in the Fair Work Commission after it found that he struck another worker on the head and sent him into a gas heater in the smoking area in a bar in Melbourne called Beer DeLuxe.
The incident occurred at the afterparty following the company’s Christmas celebration.
“I have found on a balance of probabilities that Mr Bell struck [the worker] to the head with enough force for him to fall back two or three metres and then onto the ground … It was clearly an assault. In so far as the blow felled [the worker], it involved an imminent risk to [the worker]’s safety,” FWC commissioner Mark Perica said.
Immediately after delivering the blow, Bell left Beer DeLuxe and went towards Flinders Street to the train station to go home. He recalled to the commission that a staff member chased him down.
“I was just freaked out by then, and I knew I was in trouble, you know? I know I’m in trouble,” Bell said in a disciplinary interview with the company.
The commissioner said: “His contract of employment, and the policies of ACM and the Victoria public sector, compelled him to high standards of conduct, including treating co-workers with respect.”
Following this incident, Bell was suspended on pay before an investigation determined that termination was an appropriate outcome, as he had engaged in serious misconduct by breaching the workplace’s code of conduct.
The not-so-merry drinks
According to a witness, Bell was wearing a Santa hat as he struck his colleague after they exchanged some “impassioned” words with one another following Bell’s alleged remark of “that’s gay” in conversation.
The commission heard that the colleague repeatedly told Bell that he was homosexual; thus, this remark would have offended him.
The two colleagues admitted that they had a couple of drinks, both from the preceding Christmas party and at Beer DeLuxe.
Over the phone, the bar’s venue manager gave evidence of audio describing the CCTV footage in real time: “The man in the Santa hat turns and punches the man once in the head. The man falls backwards into a heater and attempts to hold himself up. The man in the Santa hat leaves.”
The colleague told the commission that he felt “dazed and confused” after he fell and remembered “realising” he had “been hit from behind”.
Following this incident, Bell’s colleague said he felt really shaken up and was afraid to work alone.
“I am also satisfied that Mr Bell was put on notice of the reason, given an opportunity to respond to that reason and he was invited to bring a support person along to the meeting he had with management on 13 December 2024. The procedural fairness he was accorded was consistent with what should be expected of a large public sector employer with a dedicated human resource function,” the commission said.
Upon consideration of all evidence, Perica rejected Bell’s unfair dismissal application on the basis that his termination was valid on the basis of serious misconduct and not harsh, unjust, or unreasonable, upholding his dismissal.
The case citation: Cameron Bell v Arts Centre Melbourne (U2025/334)
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