Perth office worker sacked for discussing adventurous sex life loses unfair dismissal case

A Perth office worker who was sacked for leering at his female colleagues and detailing his polyamorous sex life with his wife who is a “furry” has had his claim for unfair dismissal thrown out.

Office administration worker Evan-Ashley Solace was fired after three female colleagues complained that he not only sexually harassed them but he also went to the toilet with the door open, farted and belched, exposed the office to his smelly feet and watched anime at his desk.

Mr Solace, who is an enthusiast of Live Action Role Playing, took his employer, laboratory machine manufacturer Mettler-Toledo to the Fair Work Commission claiming the allegations were false and not fairly investigated by the employer.

Earlier this month the Fair Work Commission published its decision determining Mr Solace’s termination was valid as he had sexually harassed the women and behaved in an offensive manner.

The case centred around the allegations of three women who worked closely with Mr Solace out of the multinational company’s Perth office.

The women claimed Mr Solace would “bait” women in the office into asking questions about his sex life and then discuss his polyamorous lifestyle he had with his wife.

One woman gave evidence at the two-day hearing that “Mr Solace would often discuss the details of his sex life with his wife, including that (she) was a furry who liked to dress up in animal outfits or fur skins.”

She also said he told her, “his wife would make her own costumes to wear at sex parties”.

All three women gave evidence that Mr Solace would use the urinal in the men’s bathroom with the door open “in full view of the staff area and main thoroughfare to the kitchen”.

One woman said she chose to resign because Mr Solace “made her feel unsafe and constantly on edge”.

All three women complained about Mr Solace’s regular flatulence with one woman saying he would regularly fart as he walked past her desk.

While another complaint was that he would walk around the office barefoot and his feet, “smelt strongly,” which one woman said she could smell from her desk.

“If any of the male co-workers entered the office, he would put his shoes back on,” the woman claimed.

In March one of the women sent an email to Mettler-Toledo’s national service manager outlining her complaints including that he was “spending much of the work day watching anime”.

An investigation commenced and Mr Solace was asked to attend a meeting with the company’s senior executives and human resources manager.

At the meeting Mr Solace denied the allegations saying the women “colluded to make complaints”.

“Mr Solace denied ever speaking about his sex life at work; leaving open the toilet door while using it; or talking about a colleague’s salary without permission. Mr Solace explained that he would on occasion use the women’s bathroom when the men’s bathroom was occupied,” the decision read.

“Mr Solace agreed that he would burp and fart at his desk, but that it was not excessive.”

Mettler-Toledo hired an outside law firm to investigate the allegations and terminated his employment in May.

Fair Work Commissioner Pearl Lim ruled Mr Solace had sexually harassed the women at work and behaved in an offence manner. She ruled that while Mettler-Toledo’s investigation was “shambolic” his termination was valid.

“I accept that Mr Solace spoke at work about how he and his wife would swap partners; that he and his wife attended sex parties; how his wife would make costumes for sexual encounters; the details of his vasectomy; the details of his wife’s tubal ligation and how that was linked to their sex life; and that he showed off scratches on his arms from a sex party

“There is nothing wrong with being sex positive. However, there is a time and place to be discussing your sex life, and the workplace is often neither unless there is positive evidence that it is acceptable,” she wrote.

Mr Solace told The West Australian that the decision has made him change his behaviour.

“I have basically closed myself out I don’t talk about personal things anymore,” he said.

“At work you spend a lot of time together, eight hours in the office a day, of course you talk about a lot of things,” he said.