FOR most of us, the office is the last place we’d go after a night on the town.
But a Geelong man has lost his job after he turned up to work after hours to sleep off an alcohol binge.
According to the Australian Financial Review, Sean Lewer, who worked on board a ship, was sacked by employer Inco Ships after he tried to return to his workplace after a night of heavy drinking.
On the day of the incident, the oil and gas worker knocked off work and went out for pizza and beer with a colleague.
At 10pm, he tried to return to his ship to sleep off the booze, so he would be ready to start his morning shift.
However, security guards stopped him from boarding due to his intoxication, which caused Mr Lewer to become aggressive.
The father-of-one called in sick the next day, and was fired for breaching the company’s drug and alcohol policy, behaving in an “aggressive and intimidatory manner” and jeopardising health and safety.
While the man said he was “deeply ashamed” of his actions, he claimed he shouldn’t have been let go, as the incident occurred outside of work hours and because he hadn’t actually managed to enter the property.
However, the Fair Work Commission upheld the decision and backed the oil and gas industry’s zero-tolerance alcohol strategy.
Despite the incident occurring outside work hours, Commissioner David Gregory said the decision was “reasonable”.
“The rationale for having a policy in place that provides that employees are not to access the refinery jetty or vessel after having consumed alcohol is the same in both circumstances,” he said.
“It is obviously designed to protect the individual and to prevent them endangering others.”
Source: News.com.au
