Ary v Director General, NSW Health [2013] NSWADT 30

Administrative Decisions Tribunal New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Ary v Director General, NSW Health [2013] NSWADT 30 Hearing dates: 4 December 2012 and 29 January 2013 Decision date: 06 February 2013 Jurisdiction: Equal Opportunity Division Before: Magistrate N Hennessy, Deputy President Decision: The application for leave for the complaint to proceed is refused. Catchwords: DISCRIMINATION -race discrimination in employment - application for leave to proceed - complaint lacks merit Legislation Cited: Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 Administrative Decisions Tribunal Act 1997 Cases Cited: Ekermawi v Administrative Decisions Tribunal of New South Wales & Ors [2009] NSWSC 143 Category: Interlocutory applications Parties: Tazra Ary (Applicant) Director General, NSW Health (Respondent) Representation: T Ary (Applicant in person) S Bull (Respondent) File Number(s): 121129

REASONS FOR DECISION

Introduction 1Ms Ary, who is of Kurdish background, complained of corruption at her workplace - the Sydney South West Pathology Service (SSWPS). She also complained of being bullied, harassed and poisoned by her manager and work colleagues. The President of the Anti-Discrimination Board declined Ms Ary's complaint of race discrimination as "lacking in substance". None of Ms Ary's allegations relate to her race. For that reason, it is neither fair nor just to allow her complaint of race discrimination under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 to go ahead: Ekermawi v Administrative Decisions Tribunal of New South Wales & Ors [2009] NSWSC 143, per Schmidt AJ.

Allegations 2The period of the complaint as referred by the President of the Anti-Discrimination Board is 1 November 2010 to 25 October 2011. Events, including the termination of Ms Ary's employment, which took place outside that period are not part of the complaint. 3Ms Ary's main allegations are that: (1)On 25 November 2010, Ms Ary met with her manager in his office and raised concerns about problems occurring at work. The manager locked the door and threatened her. (2)On 22 December 2010 Ms Ary disclosed allegations of corruption to the General Manager of Liverpool Hospital but rather than involving her in the investigation, hospital employees accused her of being mentally ill to cover up the corruption. (3)Following the allegations, her work colleagues stopped communicating with her, hid blood specimens from her to get her into trouble, incorrectly addressed patient's confidential results and threw rubbish at her. (4)Following an investigation of the corruption allegations, the matter was closed and Ms Ary was accused of having a mental illness. (5)On 28 June 2011 Ms Ary applied for a Technical Officer position but was told that it had been 'pulled' because of budget cuts. (6)On 15 September 2011, while eating her lunch at work, Ms Ary had a burning sensation and felt sharp pain. She attributes this to being poisoned. (7)On 17 September 2011, Ms Ary was admitted to Liverpool Emergency Department in relation to the incident on 15 September and complains about the treatment she received. 4On 19 November 2011, Ms Ary's employment was terminated on the ground that she was unable to carry out the inherent requirements of the job. That decision was made partly on the basis of a report from Dr Stephen Allnut, a forensic psychiatrist, dated 21 August 2012. Dr Allnut diagnosed Ms Ary as having a delusional disorder, persecutory type. Ms Ary obtained a report from another psychiatrist, Dr Vrjosseck. In his report of 21 January 2013, he said that Ms Ary's conspiratorial beliefs would appear to be of a delusional nature. Ms Ary denies that she is mentally ill. I do not need to make a finding about that issue.