Female FIFO worker knocked back by Fair Work Commission after being sacked for sexual harassment

Details of how a female FIFO worker sexually harassed two colleagues in a Qantas lounge have been revealed.

A fly-in fly-out worker who was fired from her $130,000-a-year job after sexually harassing two male colleagues has had her unfair dismissal claim knocked back by the Fair Work Commission.

Evelyn Josey was sacked from her job at OS MCAP, the in-house labour hire provider at mining giant BHP, in December of last year.

She had been accused of drunkenly harassing her colleagues in a Qantas lounge and on a subsequent flight.

Ms Josey was employed as a production technician at the company’s site in Daunia, slightly inland from about the midway point of the Queensland coast.

The incident that led to her dismissal happened on July 18, 2023. She arrived at Brisbane Airport for a flight to Moronbah, ahead of a work shift the next day, “extremely intoxicated”, according to the ruling from Fair Work commissioner Sharon Durham.

“Whilst waiting for her flight, Ms Josey continued drinking at the Qantas airport lounge,” Commissioner Durham wrote in the ruling.

“A number of Ms Josey’s co-workers were also in the lounge awaiting their flights. Ms Josey’s co-workers observed her behaviour to be out of character and quite erratic, particularly her interactions with Mr Jade Glenbar.”

Her conduct in the lounge later became the subject of a formal complaint.

Upon boarding her flight, Ms Josey was seated next to another colleague, Reece Parker. Her behaviour during that flight also led to a formal complaint.

FIFO mine workers board a Qantas flight to Newman at Perth domestic airport. Picture: AAP

After a months-long investigation process, Ms Josey was fired on December 21 for “serious misconduct and a breach of company policies and procedures”. She had been employed by OS MCAP since 2019.

At the time of her dismissal, she was earning an annual income of $130,192. Ms Durham accepted that she’d been a “dedicated and loyal employee”.

Ms Josey went to the Fair Work Commission, arguing that her behaviour had been unfairly characterised and had occurred outside of work hours, making it an invalid justification for her dismissal.

She sought reinstatement to her position and compensation for the pay she had lost, or alternatively, simply six months of income.

Ms Durham rejected Ms Josey’s arguments, finding there was “a valid reason” for her sacking and the company’s decision was neither “harsh, unjust or unreasonable”.

The Qantas lounge in Brisbane Airport.

The ruling is not without sympathy for Ms Josey, noting that she turned to alcohol in December of 2021 after the end of her 26-year-long relationship. It developed into an alcohol problem, with accompanying mental health issues.

Hence her intoxicated state when she arrived at the airport on July 18.

“I was just having a little bit of a harder time on that particular day, and I didn’t particularly want to go to work, and I started drinking really early,” Ms Josey said in her evidence.

After checking in, she went straight to the lounge and ordered two bourbon and cokes from the bar. Mr Glenbar and Mr Parker were both in the lounge as well, at the time.

“Ms Josey’s interaction with Mr Glenbar in the lounge that afternoon resulted in the first finding against her, that she approached another OS MCAP employee, being Mr Glenbar, turned her back to him and rubbed her body up against his,” Ms Durham notes.

The company later decided that constituted harassment.

On the subsequent flight to Moranbah, Ms Josey “lent on” Mr Parker, “placed her head near his lap, grabbed his arm and tried to hold hands with him multiple times”.

This, too, was found to be sexual harassment.

There were two alleged incidents of harassment, one on the flight and one in the Qantas lounge. Picture: Supplied

After those incidents, Ms Josey “self-identified that she may still have been impacted by the effects of alcohol” and told her supervisor that she was not fit to start her shift. She returned home and “commenced a period of personal leave”.

She ended up taking five weeks of leave, during which she sought medical help, before returning to work. Ms Durham accepted Ms Josey’s assertion that she had been sober since July 19, the day after the harassment.

Ms Josey told the commission that, upon her return to work, she was “subjected to rumours and gossip about” the events of July 18, causing her to feel embarrassed and ostracised. She did not discuss the rumours with any of her colleagues, however.

In their evidence, she and Mr Parker both recalled a conversation in which she apologised for her behaviour, though they did not agree on the language used.

Ms Josey remembered saying words to the effect of: “Reece, for what it’s worth, I’m so sorry for sleeping on you. I am mortified that I was drunk in the first place and mortified that I was sleeping and potentially slept on you.

“I don’t remember doing this, but if I did, I’m so sorry.

“I hope that you can one day find it in your heart to forgive me.”

According to Mr Parker, it was a shorter conversation in which she said words to the effect of “sorry for what happened” and “hope you can forgive me”.

Mr Parker lodged a formal complaint in September. He said he chose to do so as “he did not want Ms Josey’s actions to be accepted as ‘the status quo’, or for anything similar to happen again, either to himself or to someone else”.

Both Mr Parker and Mr Glenbar told their employer they felt “uncomfortable” about interacting with Ms Josey, particularly Mr Parker, who was still on the same crew as her. Mr Glenbar was “worried he would have to sit next to her on another flight”.

Ms Josey was stood down, on full pay, on October 30. She returned home while the allegations were fully investigated.

When the investigation was completed in mid-December, with a finding that she had sexually harassed colleagues and breached company policy, Ms Josey proposed that she be transferred to another site, instead of suffering further disciplinary action.

She was advised that her employment was being terminated on December 21.

Brisbane’s Qantas Domestic Business Lounge. Picture: Supplied

In her ruling, Ms Durham stressed that “it is well established that out of hours conduct can be a valid reason for dismissal”, in certain circumstances.

“OS MCAP submit, and I accept, that Ms Josey’s conduct in the lounge” qualified, she said.

After weighing the conflicting accounts of Ms Josey and Mr Parker, as well as witnesses, from the flight, Ms Durham also accepted that Ms Josey’s behaviour on the plane constituted sexual harassment.

“It is not uncontroversial that sexual harassment in connection with employment is a valid reason for dismissal. Having considered all of the relevant evidence and submissions, I find there was a valid reason for Ms Josey’s dismissal,” the Commissioner concluded.

Therefore, Ms Josey’s complaint was dismissed.