Gay flight attendant gets his job back after being fired for one-night stand

A flight attendant in Australia has been reinstated after being fired over allegations that he was hungover, drank prosecco at a Virgin Australia Christmas party and arranged to meet people on Grindr.

Anything else would be “harsh,” according to a commissioner who settled the case.

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Australian “Hostie” Dylan Macnish filed an unfair dismissal claim against Virgin Australia with the country's Fair Work Commission after he was fired over the incidents last year.

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In September, a colleague reported him, claiming he had come to work “hungover”. In a conversation with his boss, he denied the allegation. Months later, Macnish was sacked after he was seen drinking a glass of Prosecco before a flight at a Virgin Christmas party.

However, the drink was consumed seven and a half hours before the night shift, which was scheduled after the party had ended and at the request of the company.

Knowing that the maximum time for alcohol consumption was eight hours, Macnish asked his superiors for permission to work the shift and took a breathalyzer test.

“Mr Macnish was not in the position of someone who was put on duty, drank too much at the Virgin Christmas party and then showed up for work,” Commissioner Pearl Lim wrote in her judgment.

But there was more.

Virgin cited a second incident as the reason for Macnish's dismissal: a date he arranged via Grindr in a Virgin hotel before a flight he had rebooked.

Macnish told the commission that he had been on board an aircraft the night before where a passenger required medical attention; during the incident, the sick passenger urinated on Macnish while another crew member was searching for an oxygen mask.

Macnish was looking for a later flight because he was stressed and unable to sleep after the medical emergency. To relax, Macnish went on Grindr and found a date who he invited to the hotel.

“He met a person outside his hotel and they went to Mr. Macnish's hotel room,” the commissioner wrote in her report. “They had sex and Mr. Macnish fell asleep shortly afterwards.”

However, Virgin believed Macnish had delayed his flight because he had been travelling late, was drunk and was looking for sex. They investigated the matter and requested video footage of Macnish's hotel corridor and his hotel room card records.

After the incident at the Christmas party a few weeks later, Virgin fired him.

The Fair Work Commissioner found Virgin Airways’ approach to the Macnish case “puzzling”.

In her ruling, Commissioner Lin wrote that the airline “acknowledged that it was 'probably' not Virgin's business to comment on a heterosexual married man having sex with his wife after reaching a point of exhaustion.”

They also acknowledged that it is “common practice for Virgin employees who are on layovers or working in cities other than their home base to use dating apps when staying in Virgin-provided accommodation,” she wrote.

“There is nothing wrong with using dating apps for casual sex,” Lin noted. “What happens between informed and consenting adults is their own business, unless it violates a lawful and reasonable workplace policy.”

Macnish was ordered to return to work within 21 days. He made no claim for back pay and none was ordered.

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