An Australian woman, who was fired last April after refusing to take an alcohol test at work, has won her case and been awarded more than €35,000 in compensation.

An Australian woman has been awarded more than 63,000 Australian dollars (around 35,000 euros) in compensation after being unfairly dismissed from her job. The Multiquip employee was fired after refusing to take an alcohol test at work, Australian media outlet News.com reported on Tuesday.

The incident took place in April. Chantelle Tamati, a former member of the company's management team, shared a long meal with two of her colleagues. When they returned to their workplace, one of her colleagues became "disruptive," according to our colleagues. He contacted the director of the transport company to announce his resignation.

Dismissed for “serious misconduct”

Following this call, Chantelle and the third lunch attendee were brought into a conference room and asked by their managers to undergo an alcohol and drug test. She honestly explained that she had only consumed one alcoholic drink with the meal. Feeling "tainted by association," she refused to take the test.

"I quickly felt that the 'quick chat' was turning into an interrogation against me," she told the Fair Work Commission. While she believes she was attacked on the basis of "pretexts," the company claims that its former employee acted "inappropriately" upon returning from the restaurant.

Four days later, a disciplinary meeting was held and the Australian woman was dismissed for "serious misconduct." The company justified this decision by citing its internal regulations, which stipulate that "random alcohol screenings" and "tests on people suspected of being under the influence of alcohol" may be carried out.

But according to the FWC vice president, the reasons why Chantelle needed to be tested were unclear. He found that the company had acted "unreasonably" and that there was no "valid reason" to fire Chantelle Tamati. After her unfair dismissal, the woman was unemployed for four weeks. In addition, she is now paid significantly less than she was at Multiquip ($27,000 less).