Ex-Logan CEO Sharon Kelsey fails in appeal bid to overturn sacking as court cost payouts loom

A sacked ex-Logan City council chief executive has failed in her bid to overturn a court ruling which cleared the council of unlawfully dismissing her, paving the way for multimillion-dollar court cost payouts.

A sacked ex-Logan City council chief executive has failed in her bid to overturn a court ruling which cleared the council of unlawfully dismissing her, paving the way for multimillion-dollar court cost payouts.

Former Logan council chief executive Sharon Kelsey lost her appeal against an April 2021 Queensland Industrial Relations Commission ruling in the Industrial Court on Friday.

Industrial Court Justice Peter Davis dismissed her application and gave Logan City Council, seven councillors and the former mayor until Friday to lodge submissions seeking costs, expected to be millions of dollars.

Justice Davis’s decision upholds the previous QIRC ruling, which found the council and seven councillors had not broken the law when they terminated Ms Kelsey’s employment at the end of her six-month probation.

Ms Kelsey had initially pursued her 2018 dismissal in the Queensland Industrial Relations Court claiming she had been the subject of reprisals after she instigated a Public Interest Disclosure about misconduct within the council.

The then mayor Luke Smith and seven of his councillors were sacked after now-unsubstantiated fraud charges were laid in 2019 and the council dissolved.

The court cases were publicised revealing details of private text messages and conversations between individuals.

Details included disgruntled councillors who believed Ms Kelsey was aligned with Logan City councillor Darren Power, when the pair dressed as Hansel and Gretel for a charity event.

Former Logan City Council CEO Sharon Kelsey and Logan City Councillor Darren Power in Hansel and Gretel fancy dress.

The decision to dismiss Ms Kelsey’s appeal paves the way for Logan City Council, seven former councillors and the former mayor to seek costs, expected to be millions of dollars.

In his ruling, Justice Davis dismissed Ms Kelsey’s claims that QIRC Vice-President Daniel O’Connor had failed to consider the “reasonableness and fairness” of the decision to sack her and that errors were made when determining the motivations behind the ex-councillors to dismiss.

“Ms Kelsey ran a case before the Vice-President which was always going to turn on

credit issues,” Justice Davis wrote in his findings.

“She lost those credit issues. The respondents were believed and she was not. As there is no reasonable prospect of her overcoming those factual findings, her prospects of (appeal) success are non-existent.”

Justice Davis said Vice-President O’Connor’s judgment showed a wide ranging analysis and assessment of the evidence.

Ms Kelsey has until May 27 to lodge any documents objecting to the cost claims.