An insurance manager who used his work-issued laptop computer and phone to download pornography and store a private sex tape will be compensated $10,000 after winning an unfair dismissal case.

The industrial umpire's verdict reinforces that pornography on work devices is not automatically sackable, and employers who want it to be an offence must circulate "specific policies" that confine the use of their equipment.

Tribunal rules viewing pornography on work devices is not automatically sackable. Credit:Louie Douvis

The former insurance manager, from Port Macquarie's Smarter Insurance Brokers, lost his job in January after a string of verbal warnings about unsatisfactory work performance.

But his employer soon raised new evidence about his accessing of "hardcore" internet pornography to justify the sacking.