Fair Work Commission makes ruling on ex-Amazon employee who alleged unfair dismissal

An Amazon employee has been described as a “smart-arse” during a Fair Work hearing that found he was unfairly dismissed from a Western Sydney warehousing job over a series of interactions with one of his superiors.

Colin Petrie, 54, had been working at the Kemps Creek Amazon Fulfilment Centre since 2021 when, in September last year, he was sacked for what his employer claimed were instances of “inappropriate commentary” and general behavioural misconduct.

According to Fair Work Commission documents, Mr Petrie was dismissed on September 25, 2025 for claims of “multiple instances of inappropriate commentary” on the Slack messaging system used by employees of the warehouse as well as instances of “dishonestly and falsely recording” details about tasks he was required to complete as part of his daily duties.

It was alleged Mr Petrie left a senior technician feeling “degraded and humiliated” when he spoke to him in a “discriminatory” way by joking about his writing style.

According to Fair Work documents, Mr Petrie allegedly said: “Manu, put your pen down. Relax, it seems like you just got your pen licence.”

It was also alleged Mr Petrie sent multiple messages to the same technician over Slack, telling him he was “on the attack” and being “silly” because of a work-related miscommunication.

A third allegation related to a lack of appropriate attention given to machinery that had been scheduled for a routine maintenance check.

FWC deputy president Alexandra Grayson said Mr Petrie was prone to “smart-arse” behaviour, but in the context of his workplace it wasn’t particularly out of the ordinary.

“I am satisfied that the dismissal of Mr Petrie was harsh, unjust and unreasonable,” Ms Grayson said.

“While it might not have been the best joke in the world, I do consider that Mr Petrie was attempting to be jocular when telling Mr Trujillo to put his pen down and saying it seemed like Mr Trujillo had just got his pen licence.”

With regard to the Slack messages, Ms Grayson said they “cannot be divorced from the realities of this particular workplace or considered in a vacuum”.

“Having regard to the way that this workplace operates, where I find that Slack was used in a very casual way with instantaneous offhand messaging, frequent jokes, swearing and venting about various workplace matters, I do not consider that Mr Petrie’s comments warranted his dismissal,” she said.

Ms Grayson said Mr Petrie had not falsified any documents and had not been dishonest about the condition of the machinery when he chose to conduct a visual check rather than a physical check.

Ultimately, Ms Grayson ordered Mr Petrie to be reinstated, and “at most” some targeted training about proper use of workplace communication systems would have been warranted.