An Italian chef sacked by a Brisbane restaurant after refusing to put pineapple on a pizza has lost his unfair dismissal claim — but on a filing deadline rather than on the merits of the topping.
Davide Tamburella was dismissed from the now-closed La Costa restaurant in May, a fortnight after a meeting at which management put a series of complaints to him. Among them was his refusal to serve ham and pineapple pizza to guests at a function.
Tamburella told management at the time that their instructions “need not be followed when it is offensive to his culture”.
The details emerged when he took the case to Australia’s Fair Work Commission. In its ruling, released on Tuesday, the commission recorded that his refusal was because “he considers, as an Italian, that putting pineapple on a pizza is an insult to his culture”. It was the third time in four years he had refused to use the fruit, having previously asked his employer to “check how important it is for Italians not to put pineapple on a pizza”.
He lost the claim because the application had been filed too late, according to the ruling. The commission did not rule on whether the dismissal itself was justified.
Not only the pineapple
The ruling listed other concerns raised by management, including the use of foul language, his communication style and an “escalation of frustration in the workplace”. It also described an incident in April in which Tamburella fractured bones in his right hand after striking a metal hand rail.
He had been hoping the restaurant would sponsor a skilled worker visa leading to permanent residency. That process ended with his sacking, the tribunal heard.
La Costa’s managing director, Elliot Ingram, told the Daily Mail there was “more to this story than a pizza topping”. The BBC, whose report the Daily Mirror carried, said it had approached Tamburella for comment.
There is some local irony in the dispute. Queensland, where the restaurant was based, grows all of Australia’s commercially produced pineapples, and the Sunshine Coast is home to The Big Pineapple — a heritage-listed, 16-metre fibreglass model of the fruit.
Tamburella’s LinkedIn profile says he now works at another Brisbane restaurant. The BBC checked its menu and found no pineapple on it.