MELBOURNE: A manager sued for disability discrimination after she was fired for allegedly taking cocaine at work.

Jasmin Unsted, who refused to take a drugs test after a colleague found white powder on the windowsill of a toilet cubicle she had used, accused her bosses of unfair dismissal because of her ADHD.

Ms Unsted was unusually quiet at work after she was out until 3am drinking alcohol and using cocaine, a tribunal heard.

She tried to sue the DIY retailer for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination, claiming that her reportedly unusual behaviour was “just a list of my ADHD symptoms and what is my normal behaviour”.

The London tribunal found that Wickes did not have knowledge of Ms Unsted having ADHD before this point.

Her appeal was dismissed, with the judge ruling that she had refused to take a drugs test because she knew she would have cocaine in her system, and therefore her conduct was “culpable and blameworthy”.

The tribunal heard that Ms Unsted was employed as a duty manager at Wickes from March 2021.

In February 2024, Rebecca Carter, an operations manager, noticed that Ms Unsted was “displaying unusual behaviour”, telling the tribunal that the “normally loud and bubbly” worker was “quiet, unfocused, and less interactive with the team”.

Ms Carter added that Ms Unsted was pacing and made frequent trips to the upstairs toilets, “more than once an hour”.

She said that, at around 2pm, she was in the toilets and saw Ms Unsted, who had become “loud and chatty”.

She said Ms Unsted then returned to the cubicle carrying a tissue, and after she left, Ms Carter found “what appeared to be remnants from a line of cocaine” on the windowsill.

A drug-testing technician was called in, and Ms Unsted asked them if her drinking and drug taking the night before would result in a positive test. She was told it probably would.

She was also informed that if she refused to take the test it would be seen as a positive result and she would be sacked. Ms Unsted refused to take the test.

In an investigation meeting a few days later, Ms Unsted said that the night before her shift, she took “one line of cocaine at 9pm and a bottle of Malibu” and was “drinking until 3am”.

Ms Unsted was fired for gross misconduct in May 2024.

Lise Burge, the employment judge, said: “Even if the tribunal had decided that the dismissal was unfair, which we did not, the tribunal’s view is that [Ms Unsted]’s conduct was culpable and blameworthy.

“She took cocaine the night before her shift. Cocaine is illegal and the safety implications of taking drugs, and mixing drugs and alcohol is clear in [Wickes’s] alcohol and drugs policy.

“Even if the white powder in the toilet was not cocaine belonging to her, and we make no findings on whether it was or was not, it was reasonable for [Wickes] to request a drug test.”