The Italian pineapple pizza chef whose sacking went around the world did not lose a case about pineapple. Davide Tamburella told Australia’s Fair Work Commission that La Costa fired him over a hand injury and a workers’ compensation claim. On November 3 the commission threw his case out because he filed it 28 days late.
The pineapple is in the ruling, but only in the employer’s evidence. The restaurant gave Tamburella eight written reasons for his dismissal, and none of them mentions pineapple.
What the Fair Work Commission ruling actually decided
Commissioner Jennifer Hunt issued the decision in Brisbane. It is Tamburella v The Trustee for La Costa Hospitality Unit Trust [2026] FWC 4264, and it is not an unfair dismissal ruling, whatever the BBC and others called it.
Tamburella brought a general protections claim under section 365 of the Fair Work Act. That route is for workers who say an employer punished them for using a workplace right.
His case, as the commissioner summarized it, was that an injury on 24 April 2026 and his workers’ compensation claim at least partly motivated the firing. He pointed to the timing. He struck a metal handrail and broke two bones in his right hand less than a month before La Costa let him go.
The employer is the trust behind La Costa, a now-closed restaurant in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley. It said the injury and the claim “did not form any part of the decision”. It told the commission a documented disciplinary process over his conduct began before his medical leave.
Eight reasons, and none of them say pineapple
Tamburella had cooked at La Costa since January 2023. The restaurant dismissed him on May 20. Its list of reasons opens with the April 24 incident and his “acknowledged use of inappropriate language and escalation of the situation during service.”
Other items cover his communication style and a January 13, 2026 written warning over a rostering issue. The seventh item is the one the world fixed on. It reads: “A recent incident where you acknowledged refusing to follow a management direction relating to a customer request.”
The pizza details come from the employer’s account of a May 6 disciplinary meeting. Tamburella confirmed he knew managing director Elliot Ingram wanted pineapple on a pizza for a function. He refused because he considers it “an insult to his culture,” the decision records.
He also argued that staff need not follow a direction that offends their culture. He admitted it was the third refusal in four years. And he asked the restaurant to check how much the rule matters to Italians.
Ingram now gives the topping more weight than his own list did. He told The Age on November 6 that “multiple factors” led to the firing, with the pizza as a catalyst. The order came from a diner celebrating a birthday. “But at the end of the day, we’re not in Italy,” he said. He told the ABC there was “a multitude of different factors.”
Why a visa decided the deadline
Workers have 21 days from a dismissal to file a general protections claim, Legal Aid NSW explains. The commission accepts late claims only in exceptional circumstances. Tamburella’s deadline was June 10, and he filed on July 8.
The commissioner found his visa drove the delay. Tamburella was midway through an employer-sponsored subclass 186 permanent residency application, and La Costa could withdraw it. His migration lawyer, he said, told him not to act against the restaurant. The advice was “not to wake the sleeping dog.” He also said he did not know about the 21-day limit.
Hunt accepted that he was in pain and taking strong painkillers. But she found he could still use his phone, instruct lawyers and take two weekends away. “It cannot be said that Mr Tamburella was without capacity to bring his application within time,” she wrote. In her view, he and his fiancée chose to put the visa nomination first.
The nomination ended anyway. Around July 2, Home Affairs told Tamburella it knew his job had ended and the nomination had to go. He then spent six more days gathering documents. “It’s at your peril,” the commissioner told him at the August 24 hearing.
A merits check that went against him
The ruling does not decide whether the firing broke the law. Still, the Act makes the commission weigh the merits before it extends time. Case law says it can do that “at a reasonably impressionistic level,” and Hunt’s view was blunt.
She called the employer’s reasons “strong” and said Ingram “would make a striking witness.” She went on: “Mr Tamburella’s frustration within the workplace and the way that he behaved on numerous occasions would lead me to conclude that his prospects of success are not great.”
So the fair reading is narrower than the headlines. Nobody ruled that a chef can be sacked for refusing pineapple. The commission saw nothing exceptional in a late injury claim, and it doubted the claim would have won.
Here is the timeline the decision sets out:
- January 2023. Tamburella starts as a chef at La Costa.
- January 13, 2026. Written warning over a rostering issue.
- April 24. Hand injury on a metal handrail.
- May 6. Disciplinary meeting where the pineapple refusal comes up.
- May 20. Dismissed.
- June 10. Last day to file.
- July 8. Files, 28 days late.
- November 3. Application dismissed.
Can he still appeal?
La Costa shut in June, The Age reported, and Ingram runs other Brisbane restaurants. Tamburella’s LinkedIn profile lists a new Brisbane restaurant, the BBC reported, and pineapple is not on its menu. He had not answered the BBC’s request for comment.
We have covered other workplace fights this fall, from Microsoft’s voluntary buyout offer to a study on how managers judge staff who use ChatGPT. This one turned on a calendar.
Tamburella can still try to appeal to a Full Bench of the commission. He has 21 days from the decision and needs the bench’s permission, according to Legal Aid NSW. No report we found says he has lodged one. The window closes on November 24.
