POSTIE GETS BINNED FOR MISCONDUCT

Parcels were emptied with rubbish

A POSTMAN was sacked for forging a customer’s signature and leaving her parcels in a bin – only for it to be emptied before she got to them.

Samuel Shirley told an employment tribunal he had an “agreement” with the householder that he would leave her deliveries in her bin if she was out.

The panel heard he told her it was her responsibility if something happened to her parcels and tried to blame her for not checking her bin in time.

Unfortunately, the woman did not see the red note he put through her door to alert her.

Shirley was sacked from Royal Mail after 26 years service for gross misconduct after bosses concluded he had left the parcels in the bin so he could leave work early.

He then sued for unfair dismissal at a tribunal, where he claimed it was “a matter of opinion” that he had failed his duty to safely deliver the mail.

The panel said it had sympathy for Shirley but dismissed his claim as it ruled it was right of Royal Mail to assume he may do the same thing again.

In January 2019, Shirley attended an annual meeting to remind staff not to leave parcels and letters “unsecure”.

But the panel heard the meeting was held on the anniversary of Shirley’s mum’s death and he may have been preoccupied.

Two months later, Shirley left the two parcels in a blue bin next to a customer’s house and signed for a parcel.

Royal Mail found Shirley had committed two counts of gross misconduct as he had forged her signature before leaving the items in the bin.

He was sacked in April 2019 without notice, which he appealed on the basis the “penalty was too harsh”.

The panel concluded: “The decision-makers did have evidence from Mr Shirley that he did know the correct procedures.”