Lidia Lucisano v Fictiv Pty Ltd

Lidia Lucisano, the applicant, brought an application for an unfair dismissal remedy against Fictiv Pty Ltd, the respondent, before the Fair Work Commission. Ms Lucisano alleged that she was unfairly dismissed due to a series of disparaging remarks made to a client about her by the company's Chief Executive Officer. The dispute centred on whether the disparaging remarks constituted grounds for dismissal under the Fair Work Act 2009, and if the dismissal was unfair due to a failure in the duty of fidelity and misconduct.

The legal issues before the commission were whether the disparaging remarks made by the CEO to a client about Ms Lucisano amounted to misconduct and whether this misconduct justified her dismissal. The court also needed to determine if the dismissal was conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Fair Work Act. The central issue was whether the CEO's actions could be considered as a serious breach of the duty of fidelity and, if so, whether this warranted the termination of Ms Lucisano's employment.

In delivering the decision, the commission noted that while the remarks made by the CEO to the client were inappropriate and unprofessional, they did not reach the level of serious misconduct that would justify termination. The commission found that Ms Lucisano's dismissal was not procedurally fair as she was not given an opportunity to respond to the allegations before being dismissed. However, the commission concluded that the overall conduct did not constitute a serious breach of the duty of fidelity or misconduct warranting dismissal. Therefore, the application for an unfair dismissal remedy was dismissed. The commission did not make any orders as the dismissal was found to be procedurally unfair but not substantively unfair.