Employee misbehaviour in Australia: through the lens of unfair dismissal arbitration

The research investigated managerial prerogative to dismiss an allegedly misbehaving employee, against the employee’s right to just treatment and to remain within the employment relationship. Using a quantitative research method, 565 misbehaviour-related, unfair dismissal arbitration decisions made by Australia’s federal industrial tribunal were examined. Aggressive acts against individuals influence the arbitrators to sustain the employer’s punishment more so than property related misdeeds; the arbitral decision-making process is a stepped process demarcated by the arbitrator’s initial assessment of the employer’s respect for distributive justice when choosing dismissal as a disciplinary action and misjudgements in distributive justice see arbitrators reversing the dismissal.