A transport company is in hot water over an alleged unfair dismissal of an employee
Transport company Linfox is in a court battle with a linehaul driver over the company making unfair allegations and sacking the driver.
Linehaul driver Eric Pickering was Transport Workers’ Union-trained and a delegate at Linfox who was dismissed by the company.
Allegedly Linfox drivers collectively agreed to stop performing unsafe work in an early morning meeting in Chullora due to having concerns for their health and safety, with Linfox demanding the drivers to return to work.
The TWU says Pickering was unfairly dismissed and alleges that Linfox singled him out to sack him when no other drivers were sacked by the company.
Pickering and the TWU are now in court after taking the unfair dismissal claim to the Fair Work commission, as commissioner McKenna found “there was no valid reason for the dismissal of the applicant”.
McKenna says the Linfox sacking of Pickering was “unjust, unfair and unreasonable”, with Linfox being ordered to fully reinstate Pickering to his job with back-pay.
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But the TWU says Linfox is refusing to take liability for a workers compensation claim bade by Pickering for psychological injury allegedly caused by the company’s actions.
Now, the TWU is helping Pickering take the case to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, where deputy president John Pascoe found that Pickering’s psychological injury “resulted from the administrative action taken by Linfox”.
The deputy president says that Linfox was unfair and not reasonable in their actions and the tribunal ordered Linfox to pay Pickering’s costs.