Former Jacqui Lambie staffers Rob and Fern Messenger lose unfair dismissal case

A Federal Court judge has dismissed an unfair dismissal battle waged by two of Senator Jacqui Lambie’s ex-staffers, finding the pair was guilty of serious misconduct at the time they were sacked.

A HUSBAND-and-wife team once employed as Jacqui Lambie’s chief of staff and office manager have lost their battle against the outspoken Senator for unfair dismissal.

Rob and Fern Messenger were sacked in May 2017 after their relationship with Senator Lambie deteriorated to the point of having “completely broken down”.

During the Federal Court trial, the Messengers claimed they were dismissed after making a complaint detailing a number of allegations about Senator Lambie, including about her drinking, swearing, behaviour, office management after an apparent terror threat in 2015, and discussion of her sex life in the office.

The complaint was copied to the office of then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

The Messengers said they sent the “whistleblowing letter” in the form of a Public Interest Disclosure because they were “motivated by genuine workplace health and safety concerns”.

But during the trial, lawyers for Senator Lambie argued the letter was sent in bad faith.

They said it was simply an attempt to “inoculate” themselves after the Senator instigated a show-cause process upon hearing allegations of bullying from other staff members.

On Friday, Justice John Snaden agreed, finding the Messengers had not proved they were unfairly dismissed, and that in fact they were each guilty of serious misconduct at the time their jobs were terminated.

“The show cause responses were transparent and calculated acts of betrayal. It beggars belief that they were shared with the office of the Prime Minister,” he said in his published judgment.

Senator Jacqui Lambie.

Justice Snaden said throughout the trial, Mr Messenger “appeared calculated and, at times, vengeful”, while Mrs Messenger “regularly punctuated her evidence with gratuitous observations – usually slurs – self-evidently designed to humiliate or disgrace the Senator”.

By contrast, he said Senator Lambie’s explanations for why she decided to dismiss the pair “was inherently credible and sat in quite obvious harmony with the events that had led up to it”.

“Given the communications that were exchanged … it could hardly come as a surprise that Senator Lambie formed the view that the Messengers’ ongoing employment was untenable,” he said.

Former Lambie staffers, Rob and Fern Messenger.

“Indeed, Mr and Mrs Messenger themselves both agreed that their respective relationships with the Senator had broken down at least to a point of no confidence.”

Justice Snaden noted the trial took much longer than it should have, due to the Messengers having represented themselves.

“Although they were, at all times, courteous and conscientious, Mr and Mrs Messenger were curtailed by a poor grasp of the law, of the cases that they had pleaded and of relevant trial processes,” he said.

“Furthermore, the Messengers were, at times, unable to contain the obvious personal animus that they reserve for Senator Lambie.”

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