The New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission (NSW IRC) last Friday ordered NCR to reinstate Richard Budlong, an NCR employee for 31 years, following what has been proved by the court as unfair dismissal.

In May this year the unfair dismissal appeal by Budlong was first rejected by the court; however, the full bench of the NSW IRC ordered NCR to reinstate Budlong last Friday.

Budlong was dismissed from his job at NCR on June 7, 2005 for storing 175 pornographic images on his work laptop. NCR investigated the matter internally and found he had breached NCR IT policy prohibiting the accessing, viewing, storing and sending of pornographic material. A colleague had reported Budlong.

The Industrial Relations Commission rejected outright NCR's claim it had a zero tolerance policy to accessing pornography and said there was "no such policy in existence", reinstated Budlong and noted his dismissal was harsh, unreasonable and unjust.

The Industrial Relations Commission stated there was an "air of automaticity" about signing NCR's code of conduct and "a degree of mechanical, unthinking routine in employees making a commitment to abide by the code".