Employee must pay costs after refusing employer's reasonable settlement offer

An employee that refused a reasonable offer of settlement has been ordered by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to pay his ex-employer's legal costs of $14,000, after his unfair dismissal application was dismissed.

Background

In Ferry v GHS Regional WA Pty Ltd (2016) FWC 3120, an employee was dismissed by his employer (GHS) for entering the workplace outside of work hours and removing GHS's property without authorisation. The employee was also dishonest when questioned about his conduct by GHS.

The employee filed an unfair dismissal claim. After the matter failed to resolve at conciliation, GHS made a settlement offer, which was rejected by the employee.

The unfair dismissal claim was ultimately unsuccessful and GHS sought to recover its costs in defending it. GHS relied on s 400A of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), alleging that the employee's refusal of a settlement offer constituted an unreasonable act in connection with continuation of the matter.