Sacked cops fighting to get jobs back after Covid jab ruling

Police officers sacked after refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccination during the height of the pandemic say they have been left in limbo as they battle to get their jobs back.

Police officers sacked over refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccination are trying to get their jobs back but say they have been left in limbo.

Former Commissioner Katarina Carroll announced a vaccine mandate directive in September 2021 and officers faced suspensions or sackings for not complying.

A number of police challenged the directive in court and in December 2022 the directive was revoked but staff remained stood down and suspended.

In February this year, 74 police and QAS staff won their legal fight against the directives, with Supreme Court Justice Glenn Martin finding that the Queensland Police Service directive was unlawful and the Queensland Ambulance Service directive was ineffective.

In December 2022 the service said 16 police officers and six staff members had been sacked, while there was still 102 discipline proceedings notices for suspended officers and 50 show cause notices for staff.

The Queensland Police Service has not responded to questions as to how many staff have been sacked to date and how many remain suspended and whether it would dismiss any further or allow any sacked officers to return.

A police spokeswoman said a number of employees who were dismissed had filed applications in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal or the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission or have written to the QPS seeking reinstatement.

The police service has said it would provide an update to legal representatives of affected employees in due course but has refused to comment further.
Meanwhile, a number of officers say they are in limbo and desperately want their jobs back.

Daniel Barnes, 46, was suspended in October 2021 and was told at his home on Christmas Eve that the suspension would be without pay.

Daniel Barnes was a senior constable in Townsville but was sacked after refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccination. He's fighting to get his job back.

Constable Clayton Baker was working in Childers when he was suspended and then sacked from the Queensland Police Service. He wants his job back.

The senior constable was sacked in December 2022.

“I don’t know how we didn’t lose our house,” he said.

“I had $50,000 in savings and that’s gone. I couldn’t try to get another job as no-one was being employed who was unvaccinated.”

Mr Barnes said he lost $300,000 in wages and super. He has contested his dismissal in QCAT.

Clayton Baker was a constable working in Childers when he was suspended after just building a new house with his wife.

He grew up in Gin Gin and was heavily committed to staying and settling down in Childers until he retired.

He was later sacked by a senior officer.

“Unbelievably, after telling what a good officer I’d been – he said I’d been sacked,” Mr Baker said.

“Where’s the accountability?” he said.

“As police officers we’re accountable for everything we do but it seems a different story for the QPS management. I want to see justice. I want to get my life and job back.”

Mr Baker said he estimates he has lost $250,000 in wages and superannuation since 2021 and has been “getting by” with his wife.

Luke Jones was suspended from his specialist job in Cairns in September 2021, without pay from October that year. In January this year a senior officer visited the senior constable at his home and told him he was sacked.

He said he estimated over the 28 months he had lost $400,000 in wages and superannuation and opportunities to be promoted.

Mr Jones has taken his dismissal to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The Covid-19 vaccination hub at Southbank in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

“I was forced to just knuckle down and try to get an income to help pay the bills, including our mortgage, by working in security and real estate, but at the end of the day it just didn’t work out,” he said.

“It also put a lot of strain on my relationship with my partner and we had to put a lot of extra work in to stay together.”

They officers, who want their jobs back, are being represented by solicitor Justin Sibley who has represented hundreds of officers affected by the vaccine mandate.

“Aside from the unlawfulness, those mandates pitched cop against cop, and caused untold damage to dedicated members who had done nothing but object to being coercively subjected to an experimental vaccine,” he said.

“The service had before been a proud organisation that had always supported its people. It stopped supporting its people and focusing on investigating crime and protecting the community and began focusing on enforcing the Commissioner’s Covid directives.

“Instead of having dedicated detectives, for example investigating crimes, they were out tracking down police and serving them stand down paperwork.”

Mr Sibley said many other police had resigned over directives before they could be terminated but many wanted to return.

He said he would not comment on the individual matters involving police wanting to return but was surprised new Commissioner Steve Gollschewski was still excluding “capable and experienced police”.

“Continuing to resist terminated police wanting to return after the direction was found unlawful, certainly doesn’t repair the damage that was done and doesn’t pass the pub test,” he said.

“The service should acknowledge that what it did to all of its staff, including those that complied, was unlawful, rule a line under it and remedy the damage.”