Australia: Employee sacked for using Hitler meme gets $143,100 in compensation

An employee in an Australian refinery who was sacked last year for mocking the management using renowned meme of Adolf Hitler has now been rewarded with over $143,100 in compensation. According to reports, BP Plc had fired a technician Scott Tracey from its Kwinana refinery in Perth, Western Australia back in January 2019 for violating the code of conduct of the company.  

This was after he posted a clip in the Facebook group of staff using a scene from German movie Downfall, showing Hitler ranting at the edge of losing World War II. He had shared a video which reportedly appeared to mock his bosses’ handling of wage negotiations.

However, Tracey had appealed and the Fair Work Commission ruled earlier this year that he was unjustly fired and paved a way for him to get his job back at the refinery. BP had also lost an appeal in the Federal Court against the FWC filing in May and on Monday, Tracey was awarded $143,100 to cover the loss in earnings. In a statement carried by an international agency, BP said on Tuesday that it was reviewing the decision made FWC. 

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The video was considered ‘highly offensive’ 

The company had said that the video was considered ‘highly offensive and inappropriate’ and the captions had Hitler as an unnamed BP manager losing calm over workers rejecting the pay deal. Tracey had posted the video on a Facebook page for BP refinery employees and shared it with his colleagues. According to BP, the video in compared the senior administration to Nazis and that exhibiting a colleague the clip-on BP laptop breached the code conduct. 

Meanwhile, the Australian Workers Union (AWU) that represented him lauded the FWC decision and its Western Australia Secretary Brad Gandy reportedly said that even though the money can not compensate the ‘unnecessary drama and heartache’ that Tracey went through, it is still satisfactory. Apart from winning the appeal and Tracey getting his job back, Gandy said that they also have now secured money the AWU member deserves. 

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(With agency inputs)

Image: @AdolfHi30723150/Twitter