No butts: case dismissed after Woolworths worker claims hurt feelings over plumber’s crack

A former Woolworths employee has been accused of wasting the Fair Work Commission’s time for filing an unfair dismissal case over feeling “upset” at being told to cover up his bum crack. In a decision published on Thursday, the Fair Work Commission deputy president, Alan Colman, said he had rejected the Victorian man’s application for compensation in part because the dismissal never occurred in the first place. It was the man’s fifth application in two years. “Anyone wanting insight into the phenomenon of unmeritorious claims in the Fair Work Commission may wish to consider the case of [the complainant], whose application … I dismissed ex tempore earlier today,” he said. Paraphrasing, Colman said the complainant, while working a casual shift at the supermarket, was told by a co-worker that “the cleft of his bottom was protruding from his trousers” and it was suggested “in rude terms, that he cover up”. In layperson’s terms, the complainant was referring to the exposure of his bum crack, also known colloquially as the “builder’s bum” or “plumber’s crack”, an unfortunate yet common occurrence for people in jobs with regular bending and movement. “[The complainant] was upset. His feelings were hurt,” Colman continued. “He lodged an application alleging that he had been dismissed in breach of his workplace rights under Part 3-1 of the act. “He wanted compensation. …