BHP party bust-up sacking upheld

Fair Work has upheld the sacking of an employee who punched a supervisor in the face and asked a colleague if she had ‘fake t..s’.

A BHP employee who punched a supervisor in the face at a work Christmas party has had his sacking upheld. Picture: Ryan Osland

The Fair Work Commission has upheld the sacking of a BHP employee who punched a supervisor in the face at a work Christmas party, but has reinstated another worker sacked for being involved in the same altercation.

READ MORE: BHP says electric cars to do little to dent petroleum demand | BHP succession once again in the spotlight

BHP Coal sacked Bradley Drake for punching supervisor Rod Maunder at the Christmas event at the Moranbah Bowls Club in Queensland on December 6 last year.

Mr Drake, who told the commission he drank 10 mid-strength beers at the event, also asked a female colleague at the party if she had “fake t..s”.

BHP sacked a second employee, Andrew Bird, after finding he also punched Mr Maunder.

BHP found the altercation at the company’s prestrip department party occurred after Mr Drake and Mr Bird, both prestrip crew members, asked Mr Maunder, a coal mining supervisor, why he was at the function given the coal mining department was holding its own function on the same night.

Mr Drake said Mr Maunder replied: “Mind your f..king business. You are a wanker”.

Witnesses said Mr Maunder was punched three or four times in the face.

Mr Drake said he could not remember punching Mr Maunder, but had been told by numerous people at the event that he did and “I will take the medicine”.

Fair Work deputy president Ingrid Asbury said there was a valid reason for Mr Drake’s sacking given he punched Mr Maunder in the head more than once.

She said Mr Bird’s conduct was also “totally inappropriate” as he got involved in the altercation in front of 90 people, including 60 work colleagues.

She found Mr Bird, who said he drank seven schooners of beer over three hours and “did not feel particularly intoxicated”, yelled, swore and grabbed Mr Maunder by the shirt.

But she said it had not been established “on the balance of probabilities” that Mr Bird punched Mr Maunder.

Mr Bird said Mr Maunder had appeared to be “very drunk”, had called him a “f..kwit”, and said to him, “who do you think you are?”.

Mr Maunder, who gave evidence on behalf of BHP, said he was waiting in line at the bar and

Mr Drake and Mr Bird started giving him a hard time about being at their Christmas party. He denied calling Mr Drake a wanker or telling him to mind his business.

The commission said Mr Maunder’s “level of intoxication” was greater than that or Mr Drake and Mr Bird. It found Mr Drake punched Mr Maunder more than once.

“When all of the evidence in considered, it is more probable than not that Mr Drake punched Mr Maunder more than once by coming over the top of Mr Bird while Mr Bird and Mr Maunder were holding onto each other’s shirts,” it said.

“At best, the propositions that Mr Bird punched Mr Maunder and the proposition that he did not, are equally probable and I am therefore not able to be satisfied to the required standard that Mr Bird engaged in such serious misconduct. This can be contrasted with the evidence against Mr Drake which makes it clear that he did punch Mr Maunder more than once.”

Mr Maunder resigned earlier this year after being told he would be sacked.

The BHP investigation also found Mr Drake introduced himself on the night to Ms H, a mine employee in the prestrip department, who was standing outside the bar.

BHP found Mr Drake asked her: “Do you have fake t..s?”

Ms H: “What? That’s none of your business?

Mr Drake: “All the girls have them, you can’t come to (excavator) strip 44 unless you have fake boobs.”

Mr Drake told the commission he made the comments “as a joke because several of his female colleagues on the 44 strip had breast implants and they would regularly make jokes about that”.

He said he intended to make a personal and sincere apology to Ms H at the earliest opportunity and accepted that he should not have made the comments.

In a statement in support of Mr Drake, a colleague Leon Malone said that it was common knowledge that three of the five girls who worked on that strip have had breast implants and that those girls joke about the 44 strip being the “fake boobs strip”.