Nunn v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force [2011] NSWADT 263

Administrative Decisions Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Nunn v Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force [2011] NSWADT 263 Hearing dates: 8 November 2011 Decision date: 15 November 2011 Jurisdiction: Equal Opportunity Division Before: Magistrate N Hennessy, Deputy President Decision: The applicant's application for leave to proceed is refused. Catchwords: LEAVE - complaint of past disability discrimination declined as lacking in substance - whether fair and just for complaint to proceed - Legislation Cited: Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act 1997 Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 Cases Cited: Ekermawi v Administrative Decisions Tribunal of New South Wales & Ors [2009] NSWSC 143 Category: Interlocutory applications Parties: Claire Nunn (Applicant) Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force (Respondent) Representation: Counsel P Lowson (Applicant) Blake Dawson (Respondent) File Number(s): 111094

REasons for decision

Introduction 1EQUAL OPPORTUNITY DIVISION (N HENNESSY , LCM (DEPUTY PRESIDENT)): The issue in these proceedings is whether the Tribunal should give Ms Nunn permission for her complaint of disability discrimination, under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 ( AD Act ) to proceed. The complaint, which is against the Commissioner of Police, NSW Police Force (NSWPF) was declined by the President of the Anti-Discrimination Board. 2Ms Nunn complains that her application to re-join the NSWPF was refused on the ground of a past or imputed past disability. She was previously employed as a constable with the NSWPF but resigned on 18 August 2007. At the time she was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but says she has now recovered. Ms Nunn explains the circumstances of her resignation in her initial letter of complaint to the Anti-Discrimination Board: In August 2007, I resigned from my role with the NSW police as my husband was working in Queensland at the time. We had lived separately for a time, with me travelling to Queensland when my work provided sufficient time off (rostered breaks). This was too demanding on us and our relationship, prompting my resignation just short of five years service, so I could move to be with him. 3NSWPF maintain that her application for re-employment was refused because of two issues relating to her integrity, not because she had previously suffered from PTSD. The first issue was that on 10 July 2007 Ms Nunn tendered a worker's compensation certificate to her manager which identified "a series of stressful work incidents" as the reason she was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. In fact, Ms Nunn did not suffer a series of stressful work incidents and the claim for workers compensation was refused. The second issue was said to be that after her application was initially refused two people made anonymous disclosures which raised additional concerns about her integrity. 4Ms Nunn says that these reasons are not genuine or, at least, are not the only reasons for the refusal and that one of the reasons was that she had suffered from PTSD.