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A Queensland dump truck driver who was sacked after he turned up to work at a coal mine two days in a row with THC from cannabis in his system from smoking half a joint, has been awarded $37,222 compensation for unfair dismissal.
Maxwell Parks took his case to the Fair Work Commission after he was sacked by
WorkPac Pty Ltd - a labour hire provider to Batchfire Resources Pty Ltd - on February 4, after he smoked half of a joint of a mate’s prescription cannabis medication on the evening of 25 January.
Batchfire mines coal for the neighbouring Callide power station, just outside Biloela, 120km inland of Gladstone.
Two stations at Callide and six other coal-fired plants elsewhere in the state produce 74 per cent of Queensland’s electricity.
Mr Parks “self tested” with a kit provided by Batchfire at home before work on January 26 and January 27 before going to work at the Boundary Hill Mine, and the tests returned a negative result.
Later saliva tests at the mine were inconclusive but B sample laboratory tests for both 26 and 27 January produced positive results for the presence of tetrahydrocannabinol in Mr Parks system, the commission heard.
Mr Parks stated that he had smoked prescription cannabis medication the night before attending work on previous occasions, according to his submissions to the Commission.
In a decision handed down by Fair Work Commissioner Chris Simpson, a former Australian Workers Union Queensland advocate, on Friday August 8, he ruled that Mr Parks’ sacking was harsh and also unfair “in the particular circumstances of this case”.
“Whilst I have concluded that the (WorkPac) had a valid reason for dismissal, the investigation conducted by (WorkPac) did not take into account all of the circumstances, and I have concluded the decision to terminate (Parks) was harsh given all of the circumstances, including (Parks) taking the proactive step of self testing before attending for work as he had been educated to do and returning negative tests, deficiencies in how the testing was undertaken, his unblemished work history, his personal circumstances, and the financial impact on him.”
At work on January 26 Parks recorded both a negative and non negative result in saliva tests, and was sent home and subsequently directed to report for his shift the following day.
Before work on January 27, he again reported a negative self test, so fully expected he was fit to work that day, Mr Simpson concluded.
“It is clear the B sample laboratory tests for both 26 and 27 January produced positive
results for the presence of THC in (Mr Parks) system, however I have accepted the evidence
of (Mr Parks) that he did not consume any cannabis on the evening of 26 January or at any
time before reporting for work on 27 January.
“To the extent that there remained THC in his system on both days, it was a negligible amount as it was not detectable by several of the tests on both days before being sent to the laboratory,” Mr Simpson wrote.
“The B sample laboratory tests found a small presence of THC at 15ng/ml and 17ng/ml,” the decision states.
In the response to his show-cause letter, Mr Parks said he was called on the two-way radio by his supervisor while he was driving a “ridged dump truck on a digger circuit” on January 26 and told to “meet at the crib hut”.
At the crib hut he was told “another Batchfire employee that I share accommodation with had failed a DNA saliva test for THC”.
“The supervisor had asked if I had smoked any marijuana last night ... I had informed the supervisor that I had smoke the night before at 8.30pm”
“I was so embarrassed and disgusted in myself because I didn’t like anyone knowing that I partake in taking this substance every now and then for self medicating reasons which I’m not proud of, let alone failing my first test,” Mr Parks stated in his show-cause response.
“I had no intentions of coming to work with any traces of anything in my system. I take pride in having a safe workplace for me and others in it. That’s why if I ever did take that substance that can impair co ordination or impair my cognitive thinking I would perform
a self test before driving to work. If I had failed a self test I would not proceed to work
for it is my duty of care,” he wrote in his show-cause response.
Mr Parks told the FWC hearing in May this year that since his sacking on 4 February he applied for other jobs but did not get any and had no other income.
Before his sacking by WorkPac his hourly pay was $70.90 and he worked 175 hours per month, equating to $12,407.50 per month.
Mr Parks did not ask the FWC to order WorkPac give him his job back because the work
relationship was “irrevocably broken”.
“I am satisfied in all the circumstances of this case reinstatement would not be an appropriate remedy,” Mr Simpson concluded.
“I am satisfied that (Mr Parks) presenting to work to operate heavy machinery for the
assignment at the mine two days in a row with THC in his system was a breach of WorkPac
policy that was a form of misconduct that contributed to (WorkPac’s) decision to dismiss
him, and on that basis I intend to reduce the amount of compensation awarded by 50 per cent. That reduces the amount of compensation to $37,222.50,” Mr Simpson ruled.
Mr Parks wrote in his statement to the FWC, quoted in the decision, that the half a joint of cannabis he consumed was prescription cannabis which was provided to him by someone he knew as they could see his mental health was spiralling and the stress and anxiety he was under on 25 January 2025 “due to a personal family situation with his children, where he had been separated from his children”.
He recalled the cannabis had a “35 per cent THC content”.
On January 26 at the start of the morning shift Mr Parks was “for cause” tested by Batchfire because Mr Parks’ housemate had tested positive for on a drug test, the commission heard.
Mr Parks told the FWC that he disclosed he was “in remission” from bipolar disorder during his Coal Board medical in 2021/2022 and the medications he was taking for that condition.
The Coal Board approved him to work provided he agreed to see a specialist.
Mr Parks said he was no longer taking those medications, he told the FWC.
He told the tribunal he has been a model employee for almost four years with WorkPac before his sacking.
