Police employee at airport refused vaccine exemption, loses appeal

A police employee working at Brisbane Airport has lost an appeal over rejection of his application for exemption from Covid-19 vaccination.

A Queensland Police Service employee who was suspended for failing to get vaccinated has lost an Industrial Relations Commission appeal against refusal of his exemption application. Nikolay Radev, who works as a principal operations co-ordinator with Queensland Government Air at Brisbane Airport, said he was genuinely concerned about a potential adverse reaction to a vaccine.

In his application, citing exceptional circumstances, Mr Radev said he was the family’s sole income earner and one of his two children was intellectually disabled and required special care.

He said his wife was affected by the child’s diagnosis and his work situation over the last two years.

“Both my wife and I are immigrants and we do not have any family members living in Australia to support us. We pay rent as we do not own a house,’’ Mr Radev said.

“If I am vaccinated and suffer a serious side effect, my family will experience a severe hardship.’’

On October 4, Mr Radev was told his exemption request had been refused and later was told the reasons he provided did not constitute exceptional circumstances.

QPS Vaccination Exemption Committee said his application did not provide evidence of any specific adverse medical conditions that included contraindications to his being able to be safely administered current vaccines.

After Mr Radev was suspended with pay on October 15 he appealed to Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, claiming the decision was unfair and unreasonable.

Industrial Relations Commissioner Roslyn McLennan said QPS acknowledged that being the sole income earner in one’s family and holding concerns about adverse reactions were not uncommon across the QPS workforce.

She said it was reasonable for QPS to conclude that Mr Radev’s circumstances, although challenging, were not entirely unusual and therefore not exceptional circumstances that warranted an exemption.

“The basis of Mr Radev’s request is that he is fearful of an adverse reaction, which is arguably one of the most common reasons for why individuals are refusing the get the Covid-19 vaccination,’’ Ms McLennan said.

“There is nothing exceptional about that reason.’’

Mr Radev argued the direction did not apply to him because his duties did not require direct contact with police, members of the community or mission critical staff.

He offered to bear the cost of daily tests prior to starting duties, to wear a mask and maintain social distancing.

But QPS said the direction had clear application to staff performing duties with QGAir.

“Airports are renowned for being particularly risky locations with respect to transmission of Covid-19,’’ Ms McLennan said.

It was not operationally feasible for QPS to trust each employee to implement precautionary measures themselves, instead of following the direction, he said.

Ms McLennan found it was not unreasonable for QPS to refuse Mr Radev’s exemption request, after taking into account his proposed risk management measures and weighing up the human rights of Mr Radev, his family, colleagues and the broader community.