An Australian Amazon employee who was fired for making “smart-arse” Slack messages will be reinstated after the Fair Work Commission found his dismissal was not justified or valid.

Colin Petrie had worked as a full-time technician at Amazon’s largest fulfillment centre in Australia since late 2021.

In September 2025, he was fired following a number of allegations, including multiple instances of inappropriate messages on Slack about his boss, and allegedly emailing confidential information outside of the company.

But Fair Work Commission (FWC) deputy president Alexandra Grayson found that while the Slack messages were unprofessional, they needed to be read in the context of the messaging app being used in a very casual way, and that none of the allegations amounted to sackable offences.

Petrie will now be reinstated to his former role and be paid the lost earnings since his dismissal.

The allegations

Petrie, a 54-year-old level 3 technician at Amazon’s Kemp’s Creek fulfilment centre, was suspended in mid-2025 and presented with four allegations against him.

These included that he had made “inappropriate commentary” towards his boss that was discriminatory in nature about their ethnic background.

These comments on Slack included telling his manager to “Put your pen down. Relax, it seems like you just got your pen licence”, after they sent a particularly long message.

According to Amazon, these messages made the superior feel “humiliated and degraded” and amounted to harassment.

Petrie was employed at the Amazon Kemp's Creek fulfilment centre in western Sydney. Photo: Amazon

Other Slack messages cited by Amazon included Petrie saying his manager was “again on the attack” and that he was “just causing trouble again”.

After he was suspended, Amazon also alleged that Petrie externally emailed Amazon training material, policies, part-pricing, shift information and organisational information to himself, and some to his union representation.

The company said this was “confidential information regarding Amazon business plans, strategies and employee information” and may have a “significant detrimental impact”.

Following a company investigation, Petrie was fired in late 2025, and he launched the unfair dismissal case soon after.

Just banter

Deputy President Grayson found that while all the allegations made against Petrie were substantiated, they were not a valid reason to dismiss him.

Grayson said that Petrie was an “honest and reliable witness” who was “unshakeable on the core aspects of his testimony and recollection”, despite his integrity being attacked by Amazon’s representative.

Grayson found the controversial Slack messages must be seen in the context of the platform regularly being used in a “quite jovial, relaxed and friendly” way.

Petrie said Amazon staff regularly used Slack to send “jocular insults and swear words” and in some circumstances even to send images “such as drawings of male genitalia”.

The FWC found that Petrie’s message telling his boss to put their pen down was inappropriate but did not warrant his dismissal.

“Whilst it might not have been the best joke in the world, I do consider that Mr Petrie was attempting to be jocular, when telling [his manager] to put his pen down,” Grayson said in her ruling.

“I do not condone that behaviour and, objectively, consider it to be unprofessional. It might be best described as ‘smart-arse’.

“However, [the] comments 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.”

Grayson found that Petrie’s other Slack messages were also “unprofessional”.

“As I understand the evidence, Slack is used on the go, in meetings, whilst performing work in a busy, dynamic, factory-like environment,” she said.

“It is used by employees in a casual and short-hand way with messages sent on the run. “Whilst I consider that Mr Petrie could have handled this better I do not consider that it warranted his dismissal.

“Could he have done it in a less brusque way? Yes. Did it justify his dismissal? In my view - no.”

FWC also found that the sending of internal Amazon documents outside of the company was minor and caused no damage to the tech giant.

Grayson ordered Amazon to reinstate Petrie to his previous role and pay his lost earnings over the last nine months.