A truck driver sacked for writing the 'f-word' on householders' recycling bins has been awarded compensation. Photo / 123RF
A truck driver sacked for writing the 'f-word' on householders' recycling bins has been awarded compensation. Photo / 123RF
A recycling truck driver sacked for writing offensive messages on recycling bins has been awarded $39,000 in compensation, penalties and unpaid entitlements from the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).
Darcy Harrison has partially succeeded in a claim against his former boss but has also taken some of the rap for the part he played in his downfall.
Harrison was employed from February 2019 until October 2020 to drive trucks for Keith Burmeister Contracting in Feilding, which was contracted to Smart Environmental for curb-side collection of recycling bins.
Despite instructions not to write on the bins, Harrison did – including claims by his employer he used “the f-word”, the ERA said.
“I have accepted that it is more likely than not that Mr Harrison wrote inappropriate messages on householder’s rubbish bins, and that this did contribute to the ending of his employment, as it was this conduct in particular which was unacceptable to Smart Environmental and the local council,” ERA member Claire English said in her decision this month.
Central to the matter was that Harrison sometimes encountered recycling bins that could not be emptied for a variety of reasons, including when a bin had fallen over, was too damaged to be moved or was placed so close to a vehicle it could not be accessed without risk of damage to the vehicle.
Recycling collectors sometimes have a hard job when bins are full of contaminants, including dead animals. Photo / 123RF
Most commonly, recycling bins could not be emptied because they were contaminated with non-recyclable waste such as hot ashes, flammable materials such as building waste and bitumen products, sharp objects like broken glass, and even animal remains.
Picking up these bins was unsafe for drivers and those who sorted the recycling.
When Harrison encountered such a bin he was meant to put a pre-printed sticker on it indicating why the bin had not been emptied.
He should have got these stickers from Smart Environmental’s office but claimed there was often a delay in getting them from staff.
Harrison said he was sometimes left waiting for 15 to 30 minutes, which made him late for the run.
On this particular day, Harrison did not have any stickers for his daily round. He had asked for them, but after waiting for more than 20 minutes, he had to leave to start the day.
He then came across a bin that could not be emptied and wrote on it with a felt-tip pen.
When he got back to the yard at the end of the day, one of the yard staff told him “he was in trouble”.
Harrison said he guessed it was about writing on the bins, as he had previously done this when he had run out of stickers, and had been warned by Burmeister not to.
The pair spoke on the phone and Burmeister told Harrison he’d lost the contract as a result.
The ERA later asked for evidence to prove this, but Burmeister was unable to find the relevant email.
During the phone call, Harrison was told to take a couple of days off work while the matter was “sorted”.
Harrison agreed, and then at the end of September 2020, he went on paid sick leave, due to the stress of the situation.
A couple of weeks later Harrison returned to work and completed his round without incident.
The following day he arrived for work and was prevented from entering the Smart Environmental yard by its office manager, who told him in no uncertain terms he was not to enter or return.
He was not even allowed to retrieve his belongings.
Burmeister advised him to go home, and that he’d be in touch. After they spoke Harrison understood that his job was at an end.
He retrieved his personal things from the truck, and left, and was paid wages and holiday pay with a hand-delivered letter setting out the calculation of his final pay.
Harrison was extremely upset by his dismissal, the ERA noted.
He was of the view that his dismissal was related to his writing on the recycling bins, but pointed out he was left in a difficult position through not having been provided with the right council stickers.
That left him beholden to Smart Environmental’s office staff, with whom Burmeister claimed Harrison did not get on with.
Harrison also felt let down by Burmeister who’d told him that he would “sort it out”, but it transpired that Burmeister “had done nothing to resolve the apparent tension between Smart Environmental and Mr Harrison”.
Burmeister said Harrison’s job came to an end because Smart Environmental “unapproved him to drive my truck”, though the real problem was not just that Harrison wrote on the bins but that he’d written rude messages on them.
Burmeister claimed it was this language that caused the council to decree Harrison was no longer allowed to work on the recycling route.
The ERA found failures on each side, and a conflict of evidence as to what the root of the problem was: Harrison thought it was about writing on the bins in lieu of using stickers while Burmeister said it wasn’t so much that, but the use of language used, especially the “f-word directed at homeowners”.
The ERA believed Burmeister on this point, but the failure to investigate, and to clearly communicate to Harrison what the problem was, meant he was never in a position to fully and fairly discuss what had happened.
That included giving him a reasonable opportunity to respond, and taking the time to consider an explanation.
It also meant neither was in a position to have a constructive or timely discussion about the position taken by the council and/or Smart Environmental.
Burmeister’s firm was ordered to pay $16,000 in compensation for hurt and humiliation, plus a $4000 penalty for failure to keep or provide wage and time records – half of which would go to the Crown and half to Harrison.
An order was also made for payment of almost $21,000 in lost wages, and entitlements.
