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A "stupid" comment to a young employee wasn't a "threat of fatal violence" but it nonetheless made his work environment feel less safe, and forced him to resign, the Fair Work Commission has found.

The casual waiter for restaurant Ikura Pymble made a general protections application involving dismissal in July this year, but the employer objected on jurisdictional grounds, stating he had quit.

The Commission heard that during the employee's two-month tenure, the manager would "heavily" pat him on the back while counselling him about work matters.

Then in July, the manager said the employee was making his wife – also a manager – "very stressed" because he was working too slowly. The employee said he would improve, and the manager responded: "If you make my wife stressed, I'll kill you."...