‘Chat is this real?’: Rubber duckie pentagram vignette leads to thousands in compensation

Terminated employees won their unfair dismissal claim after their involvement in building a summoning ritual scene with small rubber ducks surrounding a hand-drawn pentagram on a colleague’s desk.

On the evening of 3 July 2025, as a prank, a duty manager at Cleveland Sands Hotel, Emma Donato, created a vignette of small ducks surrounding a hand-drawn pentagram, flanked by paper candles on the desk of a fellow manager.

The miniature scene was described as “ducks engaged in a summoning ritual to summon more ducks”.

Emma planned to place a larger duck on the pentagram the following day to represent the product of the “spell”.

On the morning of 4 July 2025, the desk owner discovered the arrangement on her desk and immediately submitted a formal complaint to her employer, attaching an image of the pentagram and rubber duck scene.

“I have just arrived to work to find the attached picture on my desk. No matter if it seems funny with the duckies, it is a symbol evoking the devil. I have past experiences that terrify me of these ritualistic actions, but I’m sure it would upset anyone,” she said in her complaint.

Emma Donato – along with her wife and colleague Serena Donato, who worked at the company as a supervisor – was terminated on 9 July 2025 after her employer alleged the incident and subsequent events constituted bullying and serious misconduct.

However, in his 5 February 2026 decision, Fair Work commissioner Chris Simpson ruled that these dismissals were disproportionate to their conduct, ordering their employer to pay them compensation of $8,405.76 and $7,050.00, respectively, in compensation for lost wages.

Following the complaint regarding the 3 July 2026 incident, Emma was scheduled for a meeting with her employer’s leadership for 2pm on 9 July 2025.

Eighteen minutes before the meeting, Emma sent a text message apology to the complainant, expressing regret if the incident had caused psychological harm.

Emma was terminated effective immediately in the meeting for accusations of serious misconduct and bullying.

Serena was terminated the same day as her wife for her involvement in an Instagram group chat where she engaged with 30 other people – the employer stated that half the members in this group chat were terminated for misconduct and called the entire chat toxic.

When the topic of the 3 July 2025 incident came up in conversation on the group chat, Serena texted, “How do you guys even find this shit out haha”.

She added: “Alright I have to ask: who knows what about the aftermath of the ducks LMFAAAOOOO.”

The group chat receipts show Serena at one point saying: “chat is this real?” and pleading “Maybe needless to say, Emma’s spooked and it’d be real cool if it didn’t get gossiped about at worrrkkk [sic] I beg I beg”, referring to the anxiety Emma felt during investigations into the 3 July 2025 incident.

Serena was also pulled into a disciplinary meeting on 9 July 2025 for comments made on the group chat, and later that day, both Serena and Emma were issued termination letters effective immediately on the grounds of serious misconduct and bullying.

The applicants gave evidence that one month after their dismissal, the complainant publicly posted a picture of her new tattoo in the shape of a pentagram despite reportedly being highly distressed by the incident.

Upon consideration of all evidence, the commission found that there was no valid reason for Emma and Serena’s termination, as it was disproportionate to the gravity of their conduct, accepting that although the prank may have been unwise, there was no malicious intent.

Simpson ordered that Queensland Venue Co pay Serena $7,050.00 plus superannuation in compensation and Emma $8,405.76 plus superannuation in compensation for lost wages.

The case citation: Serena Donato & Emma Donato v Queensland Venue Co Pty Ltd (U2025/12023 & U2025/11925).