Milena Molina v Brett Galloway

The applicants, Milena Molina and Raymond Zhai, applied to the Fair Work Commission for an unfair dismissal remedy against their former employer, Brett Galloway. The applicants were summarily dismissed by Galloway in March 2020 and subsequently found in favour by Deputy President Dean, a decision which was overturned by a Full Bench and remitted back to Deputy President Easton. The central issue was whether the applicants were unfairly dismissed. Deputy President Easton found that there was no valid reason to dismiss the applicants and that the dismissals were harsh, unjust and unreasonable. The applicants were awarded compensation. The dismissals were found to be unfair because the applicants were dismissed for conduct that had already been dealt with by Galloway, there was no reasonable investigation into the alleged misconduct, and the dismissals were effected without procedural fairness. The amount of compensation was calculated using the Sprigg formula, taking into account factors such as the length of service, remuneration lost, and efforts to mitigate the loss.