Team Global Express supervisor took scotch, deck reno from truckies
Truckies have been giving bribes to dispatchers at Christina Holgate-led Team Global Express in return for special preference on jobs, including bottles of scotch and free home renovations, the workplace umpire has found.
The Fair Work Commission made the findings after it upheld TGE’s sacking of a Melbourne dispatcher supervisor for improperly receiving gifts and rejected his claims he was “set up” by a disgruntled subcontractor unhappy about the jobs he got.
The scotch whisky handover occurred at an Italian restaurant at Point Cook, the umpire found. istock
The gifts were revealed after the subcontractor confessed to TGE’s head of human resources that he had given the supervisor bribes in return for favourable jobs and alleged that other drivers had also given gift cards and liquor to dispatchers.
Deputy president Bernadette O’Neill found that the conduct warranted instant dismissal and had “the potential to harm TGE’s reputation and relationships with its contractors”.
The commission heard mid-last year that one of TGE’s dispatchers had asked the trucking subcontractor to buy him some scotch so the dispatchers would “look after him”, telling him the supervisor “knows everything”.
The subcontractor set up a meeting with the supervisor at Buono Restaurant in Point Cook, where after dinner he handed the supervisor a bag containing two bottles of scotch.
Under investigation, the supervisor denied receiving the scotch and, initially, even denied having dinner at the restaurant.
However, text messages confirmed the meeting and the restaurant owner later testified he saw the supervisor walk out with the bag of scotch.
‘Falsely frame’
Five months later, a driver allegedly told the subcontractor they needed to do something for the dispatchers and suggested they pay a tradie to do work on the supervisor’s house.
The subcontractor and the driver phoned the supervisor to say they would finish the decking on his home, paying a tradie $1200 for the work.
But the supervisor claimed he had been told by the tradie that the work was free as he was a close friend of the subcontractor. When he found out how much it cost two months later, he said he paid up immediately.
He argued that the subcontractor had used the renovation as an opportunity to “falsely frame” him as he was upset about the jobs he got.
However, Ms O’Neill favoured the subcontractor’s evidence and found the supervisor had accepted the decking work with no intention to pay for it, noting the tradie testified that the supervisor had never asked him about price.
“It is implausible that no flag was raised in [the supervisor’s] mind, that a payment was not required for work performed at his house,” she said.
His payment two months later may have been because of a change of heart or because he was concerned the work would be disclosed, she suggested.
She found the supervisor had breached TGE’s conflict of interest policy and strict prohibitions on alcohol gifts and that the subcontractor – who was also terminated – paid for the decking and scotch to “obtain favourable treatment … in the allocation of work”.
The actions were serious misconduct, she held, and had threatened the supervisor’s independence, breaking the relationship of trust and confidence in a highly responsible role within TGE.
A TGE spokeswoman said the company had taken “decisive action” following an internal investigation that found the person had breached company policy.
“The decision of the Fair Work Commission reaffirms that appropriate actions were taken by TGE in relation to this matter.”
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