Melbourne Magistrates Court: Court Services Victoria guilty of WorkSafe charges after Jessica Wilby’s death

A “dire and dangerous” work environment persisted with little intervention at the Coroner’s Court until the tragic death of a star employee, a court heard.

Court Services Victoria indicated it would plead guilty to the charge.

A “dire and dangerous” work environment persisted with little intervention at the Coroner’s Court until the tragic death of a star employee, a court heard.

Solicitor Jessica Wilby aspired to become a Coroner but took her own life in 2018 after extended leave from her workplace.

Court Services Victoria (CSV) pleaded guilty to a failure to provide and maintain as far as reasonably practical a safe working environment for employees.

The WorkSafe charge stated that between December 2017 and September 2018, CSV failed to conduct any adequate process to identify risks to the psychological health of employees at the Coroner’s Court from exposure to traumatic materials, role conflict, workloads, demands and inappropriate behaviour.

New South Wales Magistrate Glenn Walsh fought tears and briefly adjourned the court as he heard from Ms Wilby’s sister who said she felt guilty everyday that she was alive and her sister was not.

Her victim impact statement told of her love and admiration for her sister as she described the most supportive, intelligent, and impressive person she knew.

She said it was excruciating to witness the final months of her sister’s life as she strayed from a bright and joyous person under duress from her workplace.

Prosecutors told the court that leadership at the Coroner’s Court and Court Services Victoria failed to implement adequate methods to prevent and identify risks of psychological harm to their employees.

In the years prior to Ms Wilby’s death, allegations of bullying, favouritism, cronyism, and verbal abuse were rife and a number of staff had taken extended leave due to persistent cultural issues.

WorkSafe prosecutor Jason Gullaci said a man referred to as “CG” undertook a role in November 2017 to review practices at the court and implement a risk register but his work was suspended two months later.

Mr Gullaci said twice in the month before CG’s work ceased, two people had raised “grave concerns” for staff hurting themselves as a result of the toxic and unsafe environment.

The court heard Ms Wilby told superiors about her inability to continue performing two roles, and was sent home in a taxi after breaking down at work in the months before she took leave in May 2018.

Ms Wilby, who was the court’s senior legal counsel, never returned to the office but did work from home in the months before her suicide.

Former employees told the court senior leadership within CSV were aware of the “dire and dangerous” culture within the Coroner’s Court but failed to intervene.

Mr Walsh questioned why within four days of Ms Wilby’s death there were psychologists “on the ground” three days a week but at no point beforehand was such a measure introduced.

Following victim impact statements, defence lawyer Patrick Doyle rose to acknowledge the experience of those who were harmed and continued to suffer from failings that went beyond the matters of which CSV was charged.

Mr Doyle said the court service accepted its practices were inadequate before he summoned CSV’s chief people officer Jewil Fulton.

Ms Fulton said when she joined CSV in 2020 she identified it needed to work hard to enable a “speak up” culture where people felt safe and capable of voicing concerns both within and outside the organisation.

She was present in court during the victim impact statement and apologised for the pain and suffering of the victims connected to Ms Wilby.

She said everyone should feel safe in their workplace and that CSV had implemented new strategies and improved frameworks to show how seriously they took their responsibility.

WorkSafe prosecutors said the maximum financial penalty was $380,000.

Mr Walsh presided over the plea in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to avoid a conflict of interest.

The matter was adjourned to next month for sentencing.