Young Melbourne lawyer fired after chucking sickies to watch AFL Gather Round

A young Melbourne lawyer has had his unfair dismissal case thrown out after he was fired for lying about being sick to watch the AFL and go to the pub.

A young Aussie lawyer has lost an unfair dismissal case after he was fired from his job when his boss discovered he had faked being sick in order to watch the AFL.

Mitchell Fuller’s job as a practising solicitor at Madison Branson Lawyers was terminated in early August, 2024, having worked at the firm since January 2023.

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Following the sacking, Mr Fuller filed an unfair dismissal claim with the Fair Work Commission and on Monday, Deputy President Andrew Bell, rejected the application.

In his ruling, Mr Bell said the young lawyer’s conduct was “utterly incompatible with his ongoing employment as a solicitor at the firm, where integrity and honesty are paramount”.

He concluded that, not only had Mr Fuller lied to his employer, but he was also found to have given false evidence to the Commission.

“The most generous conclusion that could be made is that Fuller was simply indifferent to the accuracy of his witness statement to the point of falsity,” Mr Bell said.

“Either way, it is conduct no witness should engage in; for a practising solicitor giving evidence about a critical event, it is inexcusable.”

Mitchell Fuller was fired from his job at Madison Branson Lawyers on August 2024. Picture: Mitch Fuller/Facebook

His termination came after his employer discovered he had wrongly used sick leave on two occasions. Picture: Mitch Fuller/Facebook

The dispute between Mr Fuller and his employer arose after he took two days of sick leave on April 5 and April 8, 2024.

On the morning of Friday April 5, 2024, Mr Fuller sent an email to his team stating he had had a “tough time sleeping” the previous night and wasn’t “feeling up to coming into the office”.

What his employer did not know is that Mr Fuller had flown to Adelaide the night before, met up with friends at a pub and had plans to attend the AFL Gather Round games over the weekend.

The Commission heard that Mr Fuller’s friends had organised the Adelaide trip in early March, though he had initially declined to join them.

However, by the end of March he had changed his mind and, while he considered taking annual leave, he didn’t because he believed leave would only be approved if applied for it a month in advance.

Mr Bell stated that the email sent on Friday morning “falsely conveyed” that his reason for not attending work was because he had slept poorly.

“To state the obvious, the real reason Mr Fuller could not come into the office was because he was in Adelaide, pursuant to a trip he planned and partly paid for four days earlier,” he said in his findings.

The email was branded “materially misleading” and Mr Fuller’s failure to mention his location was found to be “deliberate”.

Over that Friday and the weekend Mr Fuller engaged in multiple activities, including attending the AFL, going to the beach and the pub.

Mr Fuller attended two AFL Gather Round matches in April 2024. Picture: Phil Hillyard

He said the “original” plan was to travel back to Melbourne via car on Sunday night. However, he ultimately attended another AFL game that night, driving back to Melbourne on Monday morning.

At 8.07am on Monday April 8 he sent another email to his superiors saying he was “still in a bit of discomfort” and didn’t think he could “hack taking public transport quite yet”.

Mr Bell noted that Mr Fuller had once again falsely conveyed the reason he could not attend the office, stating “the real reason was not discomfort but was because it was physically impossible to be at work”.

“The reference to ‘public transport’ was a fiction aimed at concealing his actual location,” Mr Bell said.

In early July 2024, Mr Fuller and another practitioner at the firm were directed to stop work on a particular file, with the file being locked by a senior member of the team as a result.

The Commission heard a principal lawyer at the firm became concerned that Mr Fuller was continuing to work on the file, despite it being locked.

It was around this time that the firm hired an HR consultant who, on her own initiative, undertook a review of Mr Fuller’s social media accounts.

In May 2024, Mr Fuller posted a number of photos from the Saturday and Sunday AFL Gather Round weekend, with the images being brought to the attention of senior members of the firm.

The Melbourne lawyer’s unfair dismissal claim was thrown out. Picture: Mitch Fuller/Facebook

Mr Fuller subsequently received an email from his employers stating they had become aware of information that was “inconsistent with your assertion that you were unable to work due to “illness” on April 5 and 8.

“Contrary to your claims in your statutory declaration, medical certificate and emails on 5 and 8 April 2024, you travelled to Adelaide to attend, among other things, the AFL Gather Round (operational from 4 to 7 April 2024), Adelaide Oval, Elder Park, Glenelg beach and various licensed hospitality venues,” the email read, with five photographs obtained from Mr Fuller’s Instagram account included in the memo.

“Additionally, we note that you had purchased tickets for an event in South Australia with SANF (attached) which tickets were purchased before 5 April 2024, but related to an event during the period of leave claimed by you.

“Accordingly, it is unreasonable to conclude that you were unfit to work during this period.”

On August 4, 2024, Mr Fuller was sent a letter terminating his employment effective immediately.

In handing down his decision, Mr Bell said he was “not satisfied” that the young lawyer was sick or unfit to work on the two days he used sick leave, adding that Mr Fuller led no evidence of his illness “beyond his own word”.

It was put to the worker that he was well enough to attend work on both the Friday and Monday and, while he admitted he was well enough to work, he said he was not well enough to be productive.

Along with finding Mr Fuller was not unfairly dismissed, Mr Bell also stated he should not be awarded any compensation.

Originally published as Young Melbourne lawyer fired after chucking sickies to watch AFL Gather Round