Health Minister confirms disciplinary action against sacked Covid mandate-defying nurses will continue

Queensland nurses who were sacked for defying the Covid-19 mandate have been dealt a cruel blow by the Health Minister, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that the mandate was “unlawful”.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman has told nurses who were sacked for defying the Covid-19 mandate that disciplinary action against them will continue, despite saying they are welcome to reapply for their jobs.

Ms Fentiman has outlined Queensland Health’s hardline stance in a letter to the Nurses Professional Association of Queensland which has been calling for the disciplinary action to be discontinued and the sacked nurses personally invited to return to work.

The NPAQ last week sent the minister a list of 350 dismissed nurses and other healthcare workers, some with decades of experience, who wanted their jobs back.

More than 1200 Queensland Health workers were sacked for refusing to get the jab, with only about 40 rehired since the mandate was lifted last September.

Angry nurses sacked for refusing a Covid vaccine are protesting at the Gold Coast Hospital.

Dozens rallied outside Gold Coast University Hospital last weekend demanding reinstatement.

It came after The Courier-Mail revealed leaked Queensland Health emails stating that sacked nurses could not reapply for their jobs – a position rejected as incorrect by Ms Fentiman and her director-general.

In her letter to the NPAQ this week, the minister reaffirmed that it was “open” for any former Queensland Health employee who was dismissed for refusing the vaccine to apply for roles.

But she rejected the association’s demand for ongoing disciplinary action against workers to stop.

Ms Fentiman said healthcare workers had a duty of care to protect patients, families and co-workers from the risk of Covid-19 during the pandemic and the mandate’s repeal “does not eliminate the basis upon which Queensland Health may take action where employees have failed to follow a reasonable and lawful direction”.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – NewsWire Photos – MARCH 5, 2024. Queensland Health Minister Shannon Fentiman speaks during Question Time at Queensland Parliament in Brisbane. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

“Where employees did not comply with the mandates while in force, appropriate employment processes have been and continue to be undertaken, which may or may not include disciplinary action under the Public Sector Act 2022,” she wrote.

Ms Fentiman also rejected the NPAQ’s call for sacked workers to be invited back to work rather than forced to reapply.

She said the Queensland Health recruitment process was “fair, transparent and contemporary” and personal invitations for jobs could not be sent.

Angry nurses sacked for refusing a Covid vaccine are protesting at the Gold Coast University Hospital.

NPAQ secretary Ella Leach said the response was “pretty disappointing”.

“Is punishment of these employees really more important than the safety of Queenslanders in our hospitals?” she said.

“We know that she (Ms Fentiman) would have the power to expedite this (recruitment) process.”