Employee claims he was sacked for circulating alleged threat

By STARZA PAUL
A LONG-time employee of Post PNG is claiming that he was sacked for allegedly circulating threatening emails from a senior staff member to fellow employees of the company.
Alei Hape, from Kerema, Gulf, worked as a team leader and deputy assistant manager in the mail exchange section for 13 years before his sacking this month.
Hape said in Port Moresby last Thursday that he had emailed a threatening statement by a team leader after Hape objected to the incorporation of another section into his branch.
“I declined and disapproved a function that they were trying to bring into my section because they deal with cash and we were under-staffed,” he said.
He said because they were understaffed he had been afraid that money could not be handed properly and might be stolen.
“I explained all this to the team leader but she must have felt let down by my decision and then she emailed and threatened me.”
He said they could have resolved this issue if they had free discussions with other functional heads.
“It was then she threatened me and I forwarded that email to rest of the employees of the company throughout the country and the management reacted by terminating my contract.”
The Post PNG human resource department last Thursday declined to comment, saying “he was a former employee” and they could not explain the nature of his termination.
Company chief executive officer Peter Maiden and chairman Fred Cook both declined to comment on these allegations.