In November 1997, Bryce Rose was travelling for work in northern New South Wales. Rose was a technical officer with Telstra, and his help was needed in the Armidale area to address a surge in reported faults. Required to spend a few nights away from home, he arranged to share a hotel room with a colleague. On the third night, the pair went for dinner and then on to a nightclub. Much alcohol was consumed, and there was an altercation between them. Around 3 am, Rose returned to the hotel room, only to find the other man waiting for him. The furniture had been rearranged to create a space in the middle of the room. ‘Well, that’s your boxing ring if that’s what you want, mate,’ Rose’s colleague told him. There was a scuffle, and Rose began bleeding. He ultimately needed twelve stitches at the local hospital. Rose appears to have been the more innocent of the parties; his colleague was later convicted over the altercation.

This fracas at the St Kilda Hotel in Armidale might have been lost to history had Telstra not sacked Rose, who subsequently lodged an unfair dismissal claim. In a scathing decision, Iain Ross, vice president of the Industrial Tribunal, noted that Rose was off duty, not on call, and not in uniform when the incident occurred. Other than the hotelier knowing that both men worked for Telstra, there was no evident connection between the incident and Rose’s employment (the pair had a pre-existing friendship outside work).