Public servant pins absences on soy milk coffee breaks

Our attention has been brought to the story of a coffee lover who claimed she had to have extensive sojourns during the working day in order to find a certain type of drink.

It transpires that Pardeep Sidhu, a public servant working in the Australian capital of Canberra, fell into trouble over her erratic time keeping and tried saying that some of the elongated breaks were because she had to find a coffee shop or café that served organic coffee with soy milk.

We do like our coffee, but that’s a step too far – isn’t it?

Other absences were attributed to her comforting a friend or, in one instance, taking the stairs instead of using a lift.

Her manager at the Australian Tax Office was given authorisation from the Human Resources department to issue Sidhu with a formal warning for her behaviour.

When this happened, Ms Sidhu complained. 

Her case was, perhaps unsurprisingly, dismissed.

But a bitter legal wrangle then followed with the subsequent appeal being heard before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).

After the first case was thrown out, the public servant went on stress leave and attempted to claim workers compensation.

She argued that her supervisor’s demeanour had left her with adjustment disorder, a condition similar to depression but one which is caused by an external stressor or event.

This claim was rejected by her workplace insurers.

During the subsequent tribunal, Ms Sidhu claimed that her boss used her position of power to intimidate and subordinate her by purposefully over-scrutinising her attendance.

One member of the tribunal panel, Robin Creyke, wrote in the ruling – which sided with the Australian Tax Office – that “this was a case in which there was a breakdown of the relationship between a supervisor and an employee.

“Nonetheless, the evidence does not support the multiple claims that the administrative actions…were unreasonable.”

Ms Sidhu now works in a different department of the Australian Taxation Office and has recovered from her adjustment disorder.