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A commission has criticised an employee's complaint about a "racist and s-xually inappropriate" Microsoft Teams message, finding it unnecessarily consumed "countless" work hours and thousands of dollars in lost productivity.

In October last year, the Electoral Commission of Queensland senior elections officer sent a colleague birthday wishes in a group Microsoft Teams chat, and a few minutes later their supervisor also said "Happy Birthday" and sent a GIF that depicted an orangutan dancing.

The employee was immediately concerned about the impact the supervisor's GIF might have on the colleague, who had previously submitted a workers' compensation claim related to the supervisor's conduct.

She also considered the GIF was both racist and sexually inappropriate, and spoke to the employer's HR officer, who asked her questions to better understand the issue and then said she would address the matter with the supervisor directly...