‘Disgusting’: Mum fired after baby’s death

On the line was her distressed 12-year-old daughter, who begged her to come home as her younger sister Taidyn “Totty” Murphy had been found unresponsive.

The 17-month-old had tragically drowned in a spa bath at the family’s home near Rockhampton, and could not be saved.

A distraught Ms Brown, who worked at a cafe and bar run by hospitality firm Cater Care in Rockhampton Airport, ran through the airport’s security with her phone as she sobbed along with her “terrified” older daughter.

“It’s a bit of a blur, I blacked out and ran straight through, but I told security ‘I can’t stop, my baby’s dead’,” she told news.com.au.

She has not been given any shifts since and claims she has been dumped from the roster altogether as a result of breaching the airport’s security requirements in her moment of grief and shock.

Ms Brown said while her colleagues and immediate boss had reached out and shared their condolences after the loss of her daughter, nobody higher up within the company had contacted her since the tragedy occurred.

“I rang (the company) on the day it happened and said I wasn’t sure when I was going to be back at work because my daughter was being flown to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, and he said that was fine,” an emotional Ms Brown told news.com.au.

But Ms Brown said that when she rang the company again the next day, she was told that they “already had that information, and didn’t need to hear it again”.

“It was so cruel. My baby had just died, I shouldn’t care about anything else, but there I was trying to do the right thing.”

Initially, Ms Brown said her immediate boss had been in contact with her and had passed on her sympathies, but that she was told over the phone on October 6 that her job was “not looking very good” and that she should “start looking for employment elsewhere”, as the airport “didn’t want” Ms Brown to return.

She said she was told by her immediate boss, who had previously always been supportive, that she was happy to provide a reference as Ms Brown had been a “great employee”.

But she said she had been left with no form of income in the weeks since her daughter’s death.

“Centrelink won’t pay me because as far as they are concerned, I’m still employed by Cater Care, and they won’t give me a letter of termination,” she said.

“But if I’m still employed, why am I not getting any shifts, why am I not on the roster? How am I supposed to live – I have four other children I need to feed and clothe.

“I can’t sit around and wait for the airport to make a decision – give me a termination letter, because I don’t want to work for a company that has treated me the way they have. It’s disgusting – it’s inhumane.

Ms Brown said she felt that the airport – where she had worked since May – was treating her “like a terrorist”.

“I’m in limbo but I have bills to pay. They have treated me like a terrorist and taken away my income,” she said.

“The security team know me personally, and any mum or dad would have done the same thing. I would have run through hot coals and brick walls to get to my baby.”

Before her daughter’s death, Ms Brown said she had earned around $1000 a week and that she regularly worked 50-hour weeks as the company was short-staffed.

She said she previously “loved” her job, but that she now felt like she was “just a number” to the corporation.

“It’s gut-wrenching, I thought I had a job to come home to when I was ready, and I wanted to distract myself with work because my baby passed away at our home. I’ve cried so many times; I’m devastated and it makes me sick,” she said.

“Companies need to have a heart and some sympathy because these situations can happen at any moment in time, and there needs to be compassion for what families are going through.

“The way they’ve treated me is not fair when I worked so hard and so much for a company who values me so little, it’s like I’m nothing to them.”

Ms Brown told news.com.au she intended to take legal action.

Cater Care CEO Colin Redman said in a statement provided to news.com.au that he was “shocked and saddened to hear of the tragic death of Tahlia Brown’s young daughter” and that “on behalf of Cater Care I extend my deepest sympathies to Tahlia and her family”.

“Tahlia has been offered counselling support, through a Cater Care provider during this incredibly difficult time for her and her family,” the statement reads.

“Cater Care has not terminated Tahlia’s casual employment; however, to work at an airport requires an Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC).

“Tahlia was unsuccessful in her application for an ASIC in August 2022 but was given duties in unsecured areas at Rockhampton Airport while Cater Care looked for employment options in other areas.

“We will continue to consider employment options for Tahlia outside of Rockhampton Airport.

“Our people are at the centre of Cater Care’s values and we will continue to provide the best possible support for all our employees affected by this tragic accident.”

Ms Brown claimed that before her daughter’s death, she had still been rostered on to work at the cafe at the front of the airport, and had never been told the company intended to move her.

A GoFundMe page has been set up by close friend Alyce Pocock to raise much-needed funds for the family and to help them give Taidyn “a send off fit for a princess”.

Ms Pocock described Taidyn as “the happiest, sweetest, most loving baby girl to ever enter our lives” and said her death had “sent nothing but pain and shock throughout the entire family”.