Labour Union Loses Legal Case of Sacking by SMS

An Australian labour union is facing a payout of over AU$300,000 after dismissing an employee by sending him an SMS. The employee, Tony Cecere fell into depression and committed suicide the next day. In his ruling, Judge John Bowman ruled that the last straw for membership recruiter Mr Cecere was receiving a message from an Electrical Trades Union (ETU) official asking that he return his work car and mobile phone.

The judge accepted psychiatric evidence the SMS triggered a depressive episode leading to Mr Cecere's suicide.

Mr Cecere was employed by the union in Sept 2004, and had suffered from depression - which was made worse as he was not meeting recruitment sales targets for the union. He was dismissed the following March when ETU assistant secretary Alexander McCallum sent an SMS to Mr Cecere saying his contract had been terminated.

The union had argued that the job had been for a fixed period and that the dismissal had been legal. Following his suicide, Cecere's widow sued the union.

Last year, following the suicide of a Telstra employee, Sally Sandic - reportedly due to stress from higher sales targets -  the same union ran an aggressive media campaign against the company.

Posted to the site on 28th May 2008