CHRIS THOMSON

Global food giant HJ Heinz has been ordered to rehire a veteran Perth salesman and repay him salary from August last year when he was unfairly sacked.

In a decision published today, Fair Work Australia Deputy President Brendan McCarthy found the dismissal of Frank Moretti was unfair and “harsh, unjust or unreasonable”.

Mr Moretti had toiled for Heinz since 1983. Before he was fired, he had been the company’s WA Field Sales Manager since 1990.

In testimony accepted as fact by Mr McCarthy, Mr Moretti said he had reported allegations of improper conduct by one of his 10 staff.

Mr Moretti asserted that a Heinz general manager, Scott Patterson, later counselled him for not giving the female worker a formal warning.

Mr Moretti said Mr Patterson had claimed that:

• he should have “gotten rid of” the worker;
• another Heinz manager had accused him of being argumentative and getting things mixed up; and
• Heinz Australia executives at the highest levels had lost faith in his management.

“I asked, ‘since when is this, Scott’,” Mr Moretti said at the hearing.

“He replied, ‘last year or so, the view is unanimous’.

“I said, ‘how come I have only just heard about this?’”

Mr Patterson was said to have told Mr Moretti he was no longer wanted at Heinz and that he would be ”performance managed” out of the business.

At the hearing, Heinz claimed Mr Moretti had refused to participate in performance management and that this was why he was fired.

Mr McCarthy heard that Mr Moretti became suspicious of the need for a performance management plan and its real purpose.

“Moretti’s view was conveyed concisely in his evidence that: ‘They just wanted me to sign the bit of paper which, as far as I’m concerned, it was the first step out the door. And in view of what Scott Patterson had told me’,” Mr McCarthy noted.

“In my view, Moretti had good reason for that suspicion.”

Mr McCarthy noted Heinz did not produce evidence from Mr Patterson about the meeting nor a plausible explanation as to why that the evidence was not given.

He ordered that Heinz reinstate Mr Moretti to an equivalent position and backpay him salary lost since his dismissal in August last year.

Photo: Gordon Jolly