Ronald Potter loses fight against Gympie council for compo over mental injury

A decision has been reached in the case brought by a former council worker who claimed he went from “happy and extroverted” to “down in the dumps” over his employer’s handling of poor survey results and misconduct allegations.

A former Gympie Regional Council manager has lost a seven-year fight for compensation over a severe depression and psychotic symptoms he claimed was caused by the organisation’s negligence.

Ronald Potter accused the council of failing its duty of care in its handling of bad feedback from a 2013 internal staff survey and then a subsequent suspension and investigation into misconduct claims made against him the following year.

Mr Potter went from a “happy, extroverted” person to “down in the dumps” following the events, according to evidence presented during a six day Queensland Supreme Court hearing.

In 2015 he was admitted to hospital suffering “psychotic symptoms and possible alcohol abuse”.

The published ruling from Queensland’s Supreme Court’s Justice Sue Brown, who heard Mr Potter’s case over six days in February 2021, said psychiatric experts found Mr Potter’s condition “stemmed” from the suspension.

However, the court did not find the council could have reasonably foreseen he would suffer it.

Ronald Potter claimed the cause of his bad results in an internal staff survey on his work as manager of Local Laws was caused by the immense time he was forced to spend as disaster manager at a time Gympie was hit by three floods, including this one in 2012. Photo Renee Pilcher / The Gympie Times

The bad feedback came while he was serving dual roles as the head of the Local Laws team and as co-ordinator of the Disaster Management branch.

Mr Potter claimed the results were caused because of his disaster management role following the 2011, 2012 and 2013 floods which dominated his time.

The court heard he lost confidence after being given a letter at a June 30, 2014 performance review, going from “holding himself quite high and proud to slumping and questioning his decisions”.

Three weeks after the meeting, he was suspended over allegations of misconduct.

These included an allegation Mr Potter attempted to “blackmail” a member of his team by threatening to release confidential information he had been given by them.

The Queensland Supreme Court found the council had not breached its duty of care to Ronald Potter as it could not have reasonably foreseen he was susceptible to suffering a mental injury before a June 30, 2014 meeting over the survey results and subsequent investigation into allegations of misconduct.

Mr Potter was exonerated of this claim by an independent investigation.

The same investigation did find he had engaged in lesser misconduct by way of an “inappropriate and reckless” joke made about the staff member, and poor management.

“The investigator stated that the misconduct was sufficient for disciplinary action to be taken against Potter which was said to be a sanction up to a written warning,” Justice Brown said in her ruling.

Justice Brown said Mr Potter had suffered a psychiatric episode but she was unsatisfied the council had breached its duty of care.

“The evidence which I accept supported the fact that prior to the events in 2014, Mr Potter was a happy extroverted individual,” Justice Brown said.

Mr Potter was exonerated of serious misconduct allegations but was found to have engaged in minor misconduct and poor management while he was working at Gympie Regional Council. Photo The Gympie Times

“In 2015 he had a medical episode which resulted him being admitted to hospital where he was said to be suffering psychotic symptoms and possible alcohol abuse.”

However “there was no evidence of Mr Potter having any history of any psychiatric issues, prior to 30 June 2014”.

“Mr Potter was, according to the evidence presented in this court, an extroverted and happy employee, who had not experienced any performance issues in his employment,” she said.

The earliest date such a risk foreseeable arose was August 14, she said, several months after the meeting and suspension.

Queensland Supreme Court Justice Sue Brown found the earliest date such a risk of injury to Mr Potter was foreseeable was in August 2014, several months after a managerial meeting reviewing his performance and then subsequent suspension.

There was no evidence Mr Potter’s role was “a particularly stressful one”, too.

“While the council may be fairly criticised for not dealing with the survey results and raising issues as to Mr Potter’s performance as a manager earlier, the raising of such matters was an ‘inevitable incident of the performance of his duties’.”

Justice Brown rejected claims Mr Potter had been subjected to bullying, intimidation or threats, during the June 2014 meeting with management.

She considered there had been “some exaggeration” of how Mr Potter had been affected and what he was capable of doing following the incidents.

In cross examination “he agreed he had been able to continue with some activities beyond what he described in his evidence-in-chief”, including refereeing touch football games in Bundaberg and Hervey Bay.

She ruled Mr Potter’s claim be dismissed and the parties submit to the court their claims for costs within seven days.