{"id":813572,"date":"2026-07-21T03:51:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T03:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/813572\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T03:51:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T03:51:27","slug":"aus-post-unfair-dismissal-australia-post-worker-who-went-to-kfc-at-lunch-break-has-sacking-upheld","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/813572\/","title":{"rendered":"Aus Post unfair dismissal: Australia Post worker who went to KFC at lunch break has sacking upheld"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Millie<\/p>\n

July 21, 2026 \u2014 11:47am<\/p>\n

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AAA<\/p>\n

A postie who drove his Australia Post truck to KFC on his lunch break without permission and admitted to being \u201cevasive\u201d about his whereabouts during work hours, has failed to win back his job after being sacked.<\/p>\n

The Newcastle man, who was employed by Australia Post for more than three decades before losing his job last year, said his dismissal was harsh, unjust and unreasonable, but was ultimately found to have engaged in serious and wilful misconduct by the country\u2019s fair work umpire.<\/p>\n

\"AA postal driver in NSW was dismissed after taking an Australia Post van to KFC on his lunch break without permission.AP<\/p>\n

That included being absent from duty for more than an hour on May 7 last year, and during that time, using an Australia Post vehicle for a non-work purpose \u2013 by his account, driving to KFC \u2013 without seeking permission and failing to tell his supervisor where he was or what he was doing.<\/p>\n

While he was entitled to a 30-minute unpaid lunch break, the driver did not take that break at the specified time of 10.40am. \u201c[He] was required to let his supervisor know if he was taking a lunch break at a different time or location,\u201d Fair Work Commission deputy president Tony Saunders said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

On the same day, the driver also left work 30 minutes early without seeking permission.<\/p>\n

Australia Post<\/a> alleged the man was unreasonable, disrespectful, and acted inappropriately when asked by his supervisor to account for where he had been: first, refusing to speak, then telling his supervisor to \u201cmake an appointment\u201d if speaking to him during work hours \u2013 a requirement Saunders said was unreasonable.<\/p>\n

When the driver refused to answer the question about his whereabouts, his supervisor asked: \u201cwhy are you trying to be …\u201d While the supervisor had paused and was thinking about how to end the question, the driver offered, \u201cevasive?\u201d to which the supervisor responded: \u201cyeah. That\u2019s the perfect word.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia Post also alleged the driver had told his supervisor that he was \u201cgoing to have some fun for the next two years.\u201d When asked what he meant, the driver allegedly said: \u201cI probably have another two years left before I retire.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the postie denied this exchange had occurred, the commission preferred Australia Post\u2019s evidence on the alleged discussion, with Saunders saying the driver did \u201chave some fun\u201d by \u201cplaying games\u201d with the company. Those games included replying to the company\u2019s queries after hours when he knew the work phone was not being manned, and blocking text messages about his non-attendance.<\/p>\n

Australia Post also claimed the driver failed to attend work or to contact them regarding absences from work on at least 19 occasions over the course of a month, constituting repeated failures to follow reasonable directions.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Newcastle man was employed by Australia Post for more than three decades before losing his job last year.Jason South<\/p>\n

During that month, the man\u2019s supervisor and several other managers sent about 17 text messages to his phone, on an almost daily basis because he had not attended work or said he would be absent, requesting him to call work to discuss the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The man\u2019s] evidence in relation to these text messages was not credible,\u201d Saunders said. \u201cHe said he thought the text messages might have been a scam, but …[he] could not give a satisfactory explanation as to why he did not simply call his workplace to check whether the text messages were genuine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Businesses<\/a><\/p>\n

The driver had been diagnosed as having \u201cacute stress reaction\u201d and had therefore been rostered on to work with reduced time pressure and lower volume. Medical certificates presented to the commission also showed he was suffering from mental health difficulties, which Saunders acknowledged had impacted the way in which the driver responded to the directions and requests from his employer.<\/p>\n

But Saunders said while the driver may have trouble finding an alternate job given his age and long employment history in one job, and would possibly face a difficult time from a financial perspective, his conduct was of \u201csuch a grave nature\u201d as to be \u201crepugnant\u201d to the employment relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cA meaningful employment relationship cannot exist when an employee demonstrates an ongoing failure and refusal to co-operate with their employer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Australia Post said the company welcomed the Fair Work Commission\u2019s finding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe play an important role in delivering for the community and have high standards of conduct for all team members,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"MillieMillie Muroi<\/a> is the economics writer at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age covering workplace and economics. She was formerly an economics correspondent based in Canberra\u2019s Press Gallery and the banking writer based in Sydney.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"July 21, 2026 \u2014 11:47am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":813573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-813572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/813573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}