Morian -V- South Western Sydney Area Health Service [1996] NSWEOT

Equal Opportunity Tribunal of New South Wales

CITATION: Morian -V- South Western Sydney Area Health Service [1996] NSWEOT

COMPLAINANT: Ms Nadia Morian

RESPONDENT: South Western Sydney Area Health Service

NUMBER: 44 of 1995

Mr G Bartholomew ( Judicial Member ) TRIBUNAL: Ms L Mooney Mr O MacDonald

GROUNDS OF COMPLAINT: Discrimination on the ground of race in the area of employment

DATES OF HEARING: 11/01/1995; 11/03/1995 DATE OF JUDGMENT: 02/23/1996

Complainant: Mr J Biady Teece Hodgson & Ward LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES: Respondent: Ms J Redfern Hunt & Hunt Lawyers

JUDGMENT IN FAVOUR OF:

Bartholomew: The Complainant, Dr Nadia Morian, is an Australian citizen of Egyptian national origin with medical qualifications obtained in Egypt. She sought, on the basis of her Egyptian qualifications, to be recognised as a specialist pathologist in Australia. To this end she accepted a position with the Respondent which was described as that of an honorary trainee pathologist.

The Respondent is the South West Sydney Area Health Service.

Dr Morian lodged a complaint with the Anti-Discrimination Board on 10 June 1993 alleging discrimination on the ground of race in the area of employment by the Respondent.

The Board, having failed to resolve the complaint by conciliation, referred the matter to the Tribunal on 19 May 1995. The matter was set down for directions on 11 July 1995 and on that occasion was set down for hearing on 1 and 3 November 1995.

During the course of the hearing, it appeared that the Respondent was going to raise an objection on the ground that the Complainant had not been employed by the Respondent. This objection was not raised as a preliminary point because both parties wished the Tribunal to hear the evidence before deciding the matter. The Tribunal has first, therefore, to decide the jurisdictional point that the Complainant was not employed by the Respondent and that therefore the Tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear the complaint.