Tas Sinadinos was fired by his employer in Australia after it found he had used a company credit card for “inappropriate and unacceptable” personal spending including thousands of dollars for escort services. He sued for unfair dismissal and argued that such expenses “could be considered entertainment” and that the need for “company” was “not dissimilar” to other expenses for a relocating executive such as fitting out a new apartment. An Industrial Court judge was not receptive, asking whether Sinadinos lived in the “real world”. (Jennifer Cooke, “Escorts a work expense, court told”, Sydney Morning Herald, Nov. 13) (via Stumblng Tumblr).
Escorts are legit expense, Oz court told
Tas Sinadinos was fired by his employer in Australia after it found he had used a company credit card for “inappropriate and unacceptable” personal spending including thousands of dollars for escort services. He sued for unfair dismissal and argued that such expenses “could be considered entertainment” and that the need for “company” was “not dissimilar” […]
3 Comments
I have to ask a question. Was this guy fired because he misused the company’s credit card, or was he fired because he spent money for escorts? I worked a job several years ago where I travelled extensively. I had a per diem allotment of so much per day. To make things simpler I was issued a company credit card and was authorized to use the card to cover my per diem expenses. The majority of the time I worked around the clock while I was on the road and very rarely spent my per diem allotment. As my company considered per diem as part of my pay I was free to spend the balance when I returned home. If this guy had the same type of deal and what he spent was what the company owed him then I think that his being fired was a load of crap. If he was spending funds that he wasn’t authorized to spend then he deserved to be fired.
Jim: I don’t know about the Aussies, but most American companies pay travel expenses on a basis of actual costs up to a per-day limit. It sounds like Sinados was getting actual costs – with either no limit or a remarkably generous limit.
Second, at least under American tax laws the cash you received would be taxable income – and so would be reimbursements for expenses such as Sinado’s “entertainment”.
Markm at the time(1988)I was being paid $75 a day per diem with no requirement to account for how I spent it. I know the tax laws have changed since then and it doesn’t happen that way now. After reading more about this I found out that he was not authorized to use the company card in that manner and was justly fired.