Mr Goldberg was also the corporate secretary to the board and had become concerned at its conduct in the months before his sacking and because one board member, Jasmine Doak, sought external legal advice about the MFB's workplace agreement with its firefighters, the court heard. Ms Doak began leading the board when president Andi Diamond quit her post last month after the MFB and the firefighters' union reached a new workplace agreement following a long and bitter fight.

In an affidavit, Mr Goldberg said he had been told Deputy Premier James Merlino wanted the state government to work through Ms Doak to get a workplace deal done with the firefighters' union. Russell Eddington, the acting chief executive of the MFB, also stood down after the workplace deal was signed. He was replaced by Ms Cockram. Mr Goldberg had concerns for his own position during the negotiations, the court heard on Friday, but in January was told by management his work performance had exceeded expectations.

Lawyer Siobhan Kelly, for Mr Goldberg, told the court her client met with Ms Doak and another board member in the days after his work assessment and he raised concerns about the board's conduct, and his intention to lodge a formal complaint. Ms Kelly said Ms Doak had asked Mr Goldberg about his future, but he had indicated he wanted to stay in his role and would work through his difficulties with the board. But a week later he was dismissed. Ms Kelly said her client wanted his job back, and although he had been sacked with four months of pay, he faced difficulty in finding another executive role with the "stigma" of having been dismissed. In his affidavit, Mr Goldberg said he had been told Ms Doak had claimed he was "biased" against her. He said he felt he had been victimised for doing his job diligently.

Ms Kelly told Justice Debra Mortimer it was implausible Ms Cockram would, in her first two weeks in her role, sack Mr Goldberg without speaking to the board. "It's astonishing," the lawyer said. In an affidavit, Ms Cockram said she got the "strong impression" from Mr Goldberg in their first meeting that the MFB was "not the right fit" for him given his concerns about the board and the workplace deal it signed. She said she met with the executive several times over the following week to try to negotiate a departure package, but they were unable to reach an agreement. Mr Goldberg was sacked "because I had come to the view that he was not the right fit for the organisation and that there had been a breakdown in the relationship between Mr Goldberg and the board", Ms Cockram said. She said in her affidavit she did not have confidence Mr Goldberg could perform his role if reinstated.

Justice Mortimer ordered Ms Kelly and lawyers for the MFB to mediation in a bid to resolve the dispute.