An Italian chef who drew a line at pineapple on pizza has lost his fight against a former employer.

According to the BBC and The Guardian , Davide Tamburella lost his unfair dismissal case after refusing to make ham and pineapple pizzas for a Brisbane function, but Australia's Fair Work Commission did not rule on whether his cultural objection justified disobeying the instruction.

Commissioner Jennifer Hunt dismissed Tamburella's general protections claim in a ruling released Tuesday (Nov. 3), finding that he filed his application too late and failed to demonstrate exceptional circumstances.

According to the ruling, Tamburella refused the request because "he considers, as an Italian, that putting pineapple on a pizza is an insult to his culture." The customer had requested the pizzas for a function costing more than A$15,000 (or about 10,419 in USD).

The tribunal record stated: “He stated that the direction need not be followed when it is offensive to his culture.…