Aus Post fires back over ‘zero tolerance’ firing

Australia Post has been accused of being “harsh” and “unjust” after it fired three posties over an X-rated prank.

EXCLUSIVE

Australia Post has doubled down on its decision to fire three posties over an X-rated “practical joke” delivery sent to a co-worker.

Ms Rebecca Possingham, a postie for more than seven years, was fired from the Modbury North Delivery Centre in Adelaide’s northeast alongside two other female colleagues – Sue Tregeagle and Alisha Jury – after allegedly organising for X-rated love heart candies to be delivered to a fellow postie.

The trio allegedly sent the parcel after learning the worker, in her early 20s, was uncomfortable delivering to the store. Picture: Google Maps

The “prank” was organised after the trio learned the young postie, who had only been in the job for five months, felt uncomfortable delivering to a sex shop in the area called “Sexyland”.

The trio allegedly organised for the lollies to be sent to her at work from the sex shop. The lollies were labelled with X-rated phrases including: “Sexy A*s, “Let’s F**k” and “Lick Me”.

Upon receiving the package, she reported the incident to her manager and an internal investigation was launched.

The X-rated lollies sent to the young worker. Picture: Google

The FWC found Australia Post’s dismissal of the women from their roles was “fair”. Picture: iStock

The incident, which occurred in April, has since come to light after Ms Possingham lodged an unfair dismissal complaint against Australia Post in the Fair Work Commission (FWC), arguing her sacking in June after the investigation was “harsh and unjust”.

The FWC threw out the claim last week after Deputy President of the Fair Work Commission Peter Anderson found Ms Possingham had breached her employment obligations under Australia Post’s discrimination and harassment policies.

Ms Jury successfully lodged an internal review of her sacking and was instead moved into a lesser role and a different centre.

In a statement to news.com.au, Australia Post said it stood by the decision to dismiss the workers from their roles as a result of the “prank”.

The FWC heard that the group came up with the idea in the car park of the delivery centre in Modbury North. Picture: Supplied

“Australia Post is committed to ensuring we have a safe working environment and has policies in place to protect team members, with zero tolerance for breaches of this nature,” a spokeswoman said.

“Following the claims being raised, Australia Post conducted a full internal investigation into the issue and took action to dismiss the team member involved. Australia Post welcomes the decision by the Fair Work Commission to uphold the dismissal.”

The commission heard how the parties involved in the alleged prank were told to keep the matter confidential and not to discuss the matter with colleagues while the incident was being investigated.

However, Ms Possingham sent multiple texts to the receiver of the parcel’s mother, who also worked at the centre, describing herself as the “whistleblower” of the incident and accusing her of having “knifed her in the back”.

The organisation has doubled down on their decision to fire the workers. Picture: Supplied

The commission also heard how Ms Jury, who was also in her early 20s, questioned whether the practical joke was a good idea, to which Ms Possingham said words to the effect of: “Not to worry, it’ll be all right, it’ll be funny.”

Mr Anderson said Ms Possingham should have known better with her level of experience at Australia Post.

“She made a foolish error of judgement, was an experienced employee who ought to have known better... falsely denied her involvement and then tried to impose the full burden of responsibility on others,” he ruled.

“Ms Possingham, as a more experienced employee of seven and a half years’ service, ought to not only have known that practical jokes, especially of a sexual nature aimed at a co-worker, are not funny or excusable on that basis, but to also have had the experience to pull back when Ms Jury expressed a momentary half-doubt.”

Originally published as Aus Post fires back over ‘zero tolerance’ firing