‘Toxic workplace culture’ at Ballarat Health Services department revealed as main cause of worker Karla Lee Jordan’s suicide

A Ballarat mum of two took her own life in 2019 mainly because of a “toxic” culture in her department at Ballarat Health Services, a court has found.

Invermay woman Karla Lee Jordan worked at Ballarat Base Hospital from 1998 until her death in 2019.

A newly appointed finance director — who is now the chief financial officer for a state government department — contributed to a “toxic” Ballarat Health Services culture so bad that a Ballarat mum took her own life, her husband claims.

Deputy State Coroner Paresa Antoniadis Spanos this month released findings into the death of 50-year-old Karla Lee Jordan, from Invermay, who died by suicide on August 29, 2019.

Ms Jordan worked as an accountant at the health service — now Grampians Health — for 21 years.

According to her husband, she enjoyed her job until a 2017 restructure within the finance department and the appointment of new finance director Adam Lane, according court documents said.

Mr Lane has since left the health service and is now the CFO at the Victorian Department of Parliamentary Services.

“Ms Jordan informed her husband of a range of issues at work,” court documents said.

“She expressed concern she would lose her job [and] discomfort with the behaviour of management, complained of additional workload due to other employees leaving, felt singled out by management, and felt intimidated and unable to approach management with issues.”

Ballarat Base Hospital on Drummond St.

After one 2018 meeting with Mr Lane and her supervisor Levi Walker — who had both completed “values-based training” within recent years — Ms Jordan reported feeling “intimidated, unsupported, and unreasonably singled out” to the health service’s employee relations department.

Pressure on Ms Jordan continued to increase to the point that on at least one occasion she worked from 9am to 3am the next day.

Her mental health decline was at its worst in March 2019, around the time she had a heated altercation with Mr Walker, the coroner’s report stated, and told a GP she had had suicidal thoughts in the past.

Not long afterwards, she was taken to hospital and diagnosed with psychosis, but showed signs of improvement and denied considering self-harm.

Ms Jordan returned to work under a WorkCover plan in May 2019.

Six days before her death — and having stopped taking her psychosis medicine — Ms Jordan was consulted by a doctor and presented over the phone as “calm, logical and goal directed”.

“She again complained of ongoing bowel issues but otherwise denied any suicidal thoughts, plan or intent,” court documents said.

But in August, a colleague told BHS management Ms Jordan was having “dark thoughts” — though Coroner Spanos was unclear whether this information reached senior staff.

Nevertheless, Ms Jordan was medically cleared to resume full work duties just two days before her death.

Despite the clearance, she was “fragile” and was “managed sub-optimally”, crying on August 28 when she had difficulty with a task assigned to her.

Her husband found her dead in her home the next day, having not attended work.

The Coroners Court of Victoria.

The court found that prior to her death, Ms Jordan had expressed concerns about her job stability and found her managers aggressive.

“The WorkCover records referred to multiple employees, not only Ms Jordan, reporting difficulty in approaching managers,” documents said.

“Unnamed employees within the finance team at BHS reported aggression from management and an impression that if work was not completed, their job may be in jeopardy.”

Coroner Spanis concluded “workplace stress stemming from a toxic workplace culture within the finance department at Ballarat Health Services was Ms Jordan’s primary identifiable

suicide stressor”, with Ms Jordan’s physical health concerns a manifestation of anxiety.

“In a submission to the court, Grampians Health accepted that the workplace culture within the BHS Finance Department at the time material to Ms Jordan’s mental health was suboptimal, if not toxic,” documents said.

In 2021, WorkSafe noted that Ballarat Health Services had taken appropriate actions to address health and safety issues.

Grampians Health on Monday said it was focusing on providing support and guidance to its staff and on working through the coroner’s findings.

“Karla Jordan was a valued employee of Ballarat Health Services for more than 20 years, and the impact of her tragic death continues to be felt, widely.

“We extend our sincere condolences to Karla’s husband, daughters, extended family, and friends.”

A request for comment by Mr Lane was made to the Department of Parliamentary Services, which asked that inquiries on the topic be made to Grampians Health.

Mr Walker declined to comment.