PUBLIC SERVANT SACKED FOR TWEETS CRITICISING IMIGRATION DEPARTMENT TAKES CASE TO FAIR WORK AUSTRALIA

October 30, 2013

Public servants wishing to share their personal thoughts on their personal social media accounts during their own time are watching a case involving sacked immigration department employee Michaela Banerji with interest. Source: ThinkStock

THE case of a public servant sacked over tweets critical of the immigration department will head to Fair Work Australia.

Michaela Banerji lost her job in the public affairs section of the immigration department after tweeting comments critical of government asylum seeker policy and the department. She made the comments under the pseudonym LaLegale.
Ms Banerji had launched an appeal against a decision not to stay her sacking, but today she withdrew that Federal Court action.
The case will instead go to a conference at the Fair Work Commission in November.
Ms Banerji said she was pursuing the matter to foster a discussion about the treatment of public servants making comments in a private capacity.
"So many people do not get an opportunity to air these things, to bring these things into the open," she told reporters in Canberra.
She believed that if her sacking was upheld, that effectively meant any public servant could face dismissal if they criticised their departments in their own time.
"It seems that the government is making an example of me," she said.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/public-servant-sacked-for-tweets-criticising-immigration-department-takes-case-to-fair-work-australia/story-e6frfrnr-1226749547542