Perth Airport employee sacked over 'ISIS friendly' Facebook post claims it was 'sarcastic'
A former Perth Airport worker claims he was unfairly fired after he posted ‘we all support ISIS’ on Facebook.
Nirmal Singh was employed as a casual worker at Aerocare at Perth Airport, before he was fired in October.
Another employee noticed his allegedly ‘ISIS friendly’ posts, under a pseudonym on Facebook.
When management caught wind of the posts he was dismissed.
However Mr Singh has told the Fair Work Commission that the message was ‘sarcastic’ and should not have been taken seriously by his employer.
The Fairwork Commission heard the post was made under another comment from Australia's hardline Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir about police worker Curtis Cheng, who was shot dead by Farhad Jabar Khalil Mohammad last year, News Corp reports.
Mr Singh has since claimed he did not support Islamic State and has launched an unfair dismissal claim.
He is seeking $7000 in lost wages since he was fired.
Mr Singh also allegedly made various other posts under the alias Sherry Solus Singh and used his own photo on the profile, the ABC reports.
It’s alleged Mr Singh made another concerning post that included images of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
However he claimed he believed the posts were in a ‘secret group’.
Mr Singh worked for Aerocare, an aircraft support and cleaning company, for 18 months and he had access to restricted airport areas for airlines such as Jetstar and Virgin Australia during that time.
Mr Singh was sacked for breaching his workplace’s social media policy.
The hearing was told Mr Singh posted three messages, including two that contained information about radical Islamic group Hizb-Ut Tahrir which advocates the overthrow of Western governments and the establishment of a global Islamic caliphate.
He admitted to sharing information about a rally held by Hizb ut-Tahrir and that he had liked their page.
However he said he deleted the Facebook page and his posts after his employers voiced their concerns to him.
“There were concerns I understood and I addressed those concerns by offering to delete the posts and the profile but how they breached the social media policy, I don't understand,” he said via video link.
“There is no post that threatens anyone or names anyone.”
He also said he understood that any ‘jokes’ must be taken seriously by police and airport security.
Mr Singh has since found another job at Perth airport since his dismissal and has had his security clearance reinstated.
News break – May 25
