A woman has been awarded more than $4000 after being sacked by an Altona company over the cancellation of stripper buses mistakenly ordered by a Braybrook school.
The Fair Work Commission heard the school ordered six buses from V Bus, trading as Laughter Unlimited, for an end-of-year excursion to an adventure park for students in years 7-9.
A teacher booked two normal buses and four party buses, not knowing the latter were fitted out with pole-dancing poles and were designed for adult entertainment.
The bus company describes itself as the “hens and bucks night specialists” and its website states: “We have the franchise on fun”.
One of its buses is painted shocking pink and emblazoned with female silhouettes in suggestive poses and the words: “The Pole Dance Bus”.
The teacher testified that the worker asked if she knew what sort of party buses she had booked. “In my head I see those red buses with the clowns and balloons,” she had replied.
When told the buses were designed for adult entertainment, the teacher “was quite horrified … I spoke with my principal immediately and we decided to cancel the buses”.
When the directors of the bus company learned the Braybrook job was cancelled they blamed the employee for losing a “lucrative contract”.
“You just cost me $6000,” one of the directors told her. “You need to get that job back.”
The directors said the employee failed to arrange alternative buses, but the worker gave evidence that all the other buses were booked for that day. The worker was dismissed soon after.
Commissioner Nick Wilson found the circumstances over the worker’s dismissal were “harsh, unjust and unreasonable”.
The woman sought reinstatement, saying she loved her job and liked the people she worked with.
But Mr Wilson found reinstatement was not appropriate, saying it was unlikely the employee and directors could work together productively and without animosity.
He ordered the company to pay her $4338 compensation.
In its submissions to the commission, the bus company accused the worker of acting with “betrayal, dishonesty and sabotage”.
