'The employee was not guilty of misconduct,' says FWC
A woman who was unfairly dismissed by her employer for getting the COVID-19 vaccine said she has mixed feelings over the decision but is "glad it's over."
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) ruled this month that Lainie Chait was unfairly dismissed by her employer, Church of Ubuntu, when they terminated her for receiving a COVID-19 jab in 2021.
Reacting to her win, Chait said she had "mixed feelings about it."
"I've got mixed feelings because I don't even understand why this had to happen," Chait said on a video she uploaded on Facebook. "The boss of this business was a friend of mine. He publicly humiliated me in front of all the people that I worked with and used me as an example.
"[He] fired me then hid behind the laws of Jesus because they called themselves the church. Just has been a coward ever since, didn't take my phone calls - my phone call to ask him to talk to me about it personally."
Chait also called out her previous employer for claiming they're pro-choice when they fired her for making a choice and taking the vaccine.
"This is purely my story of how a church who claimed to be pro-choice made me feel like I was the enemy. It wasn't my blood you wanted. It was the government's," she said in a statement on Facebook.
Chait, however, maintained that she wasn't holding any grudges.
"I'm glad it's over energetically. This for me wasn't a case about winning or losing. There are no winners with divisive behaviours and philosophies," she said.
The FWC ruled that Chait's dismissal was harsh because of its economic consequences, as well as unjust because she was "not guilty of deliberately flouting rules of the church."
"The employee was not guilty of misconduct by simply becoming vaccinated and there was no reasonable basis for the Church to conclude that this was misconduct," the FWC ruled.
