Former minister's chauffeur Rebecca Rammell wins compensation battle for being sacked over collecting cans for charity A FORMER State Government chauffeur stood down for using her minister's car to collect cans and bottles for charity has won a compensation claim for mental anguish. The Workers Compensation Tribunal found Rebecca Rammell was the subject of an "over-zealous reaction" by her superiors after an incident in which she picked up several bags of cans and bottles from a city carpark in January 2010. Judge Peter Hannon said Ms Rammell had intended to give the bags to her sister to donate to charity before a security officer intervened and told her to leave the cans and bottles for collection by a Scouting organisation. Ms Rammell did as she was asked and heard nothing more about the incident until April 2010, when her supervisor told her she would be stood down from driving and placed on alternative duties because her actions had displayed "the potential commission of a criminal offence." Judge Hannon found Ms Rammell had become distraught at the inquiry, which also delved into allegations she had used the ministerial car to buy groceries and had falsified time sheets. "I find that she was felt bewildered and intensely humiliated at what she perceived to be the injustice of the actions and the attack on her credibility," Judge Hannon said. In the months after her demotion, Ms Rammell suffered a worsening major depressive disorder, which the judge found was caused by the investigation into her conduct. Judge Hannon said new management staff within the Department of Treasury and Finance - which oversaw chauffeurs - had different attitudes towards what was acceptable behaviour to individual ministers, whom drivers considered to be their direct boss. Drivers told the court their Treasury supervisor treated the chauffeurs as a "bunch of dishonest, lazy malcontents" and that "things were going to change" whether they liked it or not. Judge Hannon found Treasury had acted unreasonably given the minor circumstances of Ms Rammell's actions and was the "predominant cause of her injury." "Accordingly the worker has established that her injury is compensable," he said. The injury has resulted in various periods of total and partial incapacity from 16 April 2010. Judge Hannon reserved his decision on the amount of compensation that should be paid to Ms Rammell and will hear argument on the matter at a later date.