Telstra sacks sick staff member

Date: 16 May 2000

Telstra - making it queasier for you.....

The CPSU said today the dismissal of a Victorian Telstra employee for failing to produce a medical certificate was part of an increasing attack by the corporation on workers' sick leave entitlements and their right to privacy.

The union has accused Telstra of an ongoing campaign of spying and intimidation, and of attempting to breach doctor-patient confidentiality.

Telstra has contacted sick employee's doctors to check they really are too ill to work, and has asked them to advise Telstra if they contact the doctor for further medical treatment.

The union has called on Telstra to reverse the decision to sack the Bendigo call centre worker by Friday, May 19. CPSU members will vote on Wednesday, May 17, on possible stop-work action if it fails to do so.

The worker, Bruce, was sacked on May 4 after taking two days' sick leave without a certificate - an award entitlement. Bruce had been employed by Telstra for almost eight years, and his work performance had been rated as above satisfactory.

The CPSU said claims by Telstra that he had taken 10 weeks' sick leave in the past 14 months are a lie.

In fact:

 He had taken 21 days with a certificate in the period July 1999 to July 2000, including two week-long absences with the flu.

 In this same period he had taken five days without a certificate.

 His sick leave forms had been tampered with and endorsed with the comment that sick leave without a certificate was a privilege, and had been withdrawn due to "disciplinary reasons".

 He was issued with a final written warning in October 1999 saying he was "not to take sick leave without a certificate. Failure to comply would be subject to dismissal". At the time Bruce was entitled to four more days sick leave without a certificate.

Situation could worsen under privatisation

The national secretary of the CPSU, Wendy Caird, said management performance bonuses were dependent upon a reduction in workers' sick leave and some managers were obviously prepared to go to great lengths to make sure sick workers' did not get in the way of their own financial gain.

"Members have had enough of phone calls at home, letters to their doctors, intimidation by superiors and harassment to use flexleave, leave without pay or annual leave instead of sick leave," she said.

"At the moment Telstra is still 51 per cent government-owned. As it has come to this while it is still a publicly controlled company, we hold great concern about the further erosion of members' rights and entitlements under privatisation.

"Telstra has to begin putting people first. Worker loyalty is being severely tested by bad practices and policies being implemented by the company's senior management.

"In short, this bullying has to stop," she said. "We are talking about one of the most basic of workers' rights ... the right to be sick.

Telstra management resorts to spying

In one case, Telstra management wrote to a workers' doctor seeking information that would have been in breach of patient-doctor confidentiality. The manager asked to be contacted personally if the worker attended the medical practice again "with a view to placing X in alternate duties".

Ms Caird said Telstra's lack of trust in its workers, and its antiquated "them and us" mentality was placing enormous stress on staff, who were working in difficult circumstances to continue to return Telstra its huge profits.

"Here we have an organisation literally spying on its staff, and doing all it can to deny them their award rights,' Ms Caird said. "As well as that, though, they are also doing all they can to deny them their personal dignity and their right to privacy."

For comment contact
Adrian O'Connell
02 9211 9292
0418 977 170

Stephen Jones
02 9211 9292
0417261 152

For further information

Contact:	Adrian O'Connell
Union:	CPSU - National Office
Phone:	0418 977 170

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