Sacked Melbourne lawyer who chucked sickie to go to the AFL loses bid to get his job back

The Guardian

10-04-2025

A Melbourne lawyer who pulled a sickie so he could attend the AFL Gather Round in South Australia has failed in a bid to get his job back after his own social media posts proved he was fit for work.
The Fair Work Commission found this week that Mitchell Fuller, who was fired as a solicitor with Madison Branson Lawyers in August last year, was not unfairly dismissed.
In a decision published on Monday, the commission found that Fuller told his team in an email sent on the morning of 5 April last year that he 'had a tough time sleeping last night and am not feeling up to coming into the office'.
He was in Adelaide with friends, having caught a plane there the night before.
'To state the obvious, the real reason Mr Fuller could not come into the office was because he was in Adelaide, pursuant to a trip he planned and partly paid for four days earlier,' FWC deputy president Andrew Bell wrote in his decision.
Bell wrote that after sending that email, Fuller 'proceeded to enjoy the day and weekend with his friends'.
Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter
Bell found Fuller went to the Port Adelaide v Essendon match that night, went to the beach, the pub, and watched a South Australian National Football League match the following day, and went to the Collingwood v Hawthorn match on Sunday afternoon.
On Monday morning, when Fuller was again expected at work but was instead travelling back to Melbourne by car with his friends, he sent an email titled OOO [out of office] stating: 'Hey team, unfortunately I'm still in a bit of discomfort today and don't think I can hack taking public transport quite yet. I'll speak to a doc and get a medical certificate when I can, hopefully will be OK tomorrow morning.'
Bell found: 'Mr Fuller's email on 8 April 2024 falsely conveyed that it was the alleged 'discomfort' that was the reason Mr Fuller was unable to attend work that day."
'To again state the obvious, the real reason was not discomfort but was because it was physically impossible to be at work, owing to the fact that he was in a car with friends presently located approximately 700km away.
'The reference to 'public transport' was a fiction aimed at concealing his actual location. Not even Mr Fuller was willing to suggest that there was 'public transport' from Adelaide to Melbourne.'
In July last year, Fuller's employers were concerned about his performance and contacted a human resources consultant to assist.
Sign up to Afternoon Update: Election 2025
Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key election campaign stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters
after newsletter promotion
The consultant 'on her own initiative', Bell found, discovered posts on Fuller's Instagram account of the Gather Round weekend that were tagged as located at Adelaide Oval and showed 'a connection to football … [and] Mr Fuller and his friends socialising, such as at the beach or with beers at a pub'.
Bell found that Fuller, who represented himself during the hearing, displayed conduct and an attitude that 'was utterly incompatible with his ongoing employment as a solicitor at the firm, where integrity and honesty are paramount' and had also been dishonest to the commission.
'I am very mindful that my findings that Mr Fuller made false representations to his employer and gave false evidence to the Commission is an extremely serious conclusion to reach, particularly in relation to an individual who holds a legal practising certificate and ought to be acutely aware of the seriousness of such matters,' Bell wrote.
'The most generous conclusion that could be made is that Mr Fuller was simply indifferent to the accuracy of his witness statement to the point of falsity.
'Either way, it is conduct no witness should engage in; for a practising solicitor giving evidence about a critical event, it is inexcusable.'
Bell also noted in his decision that Fuller had been preselected by a political party. He was the Greens candidate for South Yarra in council elections late last year.