Rachel Jack: Former teacher’s aide sues Qld Government for $541K over shingles infection

A Gold Coast woman alleges the state government breached its duty of care by sending a chickenpox-infected student to see her in the sick bay, the stress of which caused her to develop shingles a few days later.

Labrador State School, where plaintiff Rachel Jack was working as a teacher’s aide when she allegedly came into contact with chickenpox. Picture: JVG Sound

An education staffer is suing the Queensland Government for more than half a million dollars, claiming it was negligent in allowing her to come into contact with a student infected with chickenpox, and the stress of the encounter led her to develop shingles.

Rachel May Jack, who was working as a teacher’s aide at Labrador State School on secondment from Southport State High School, where she was the school’s Indigenous liaison officer, filed a $541,734.24 damages claim against the state government in Southport District Court on February 3.

According to Ms Jack’s statement of claim, on or about May 20, 2021, she was working in the sick bay at Labrador when a child presented with a sore, which Ms Jack placed a Band-Aid on.

Ms Jack said she was told by the student it was chickenpox and he’d had the virus for about a week.

Southport State High School indigenous liaison officer Rachel Jack, who claims she developed shingles after being exposed to chickenpox while on secondment at Labrador State School. Picture: Southport SHS

She then phoned the student’s teacher, who said he was aware the student was affected “but that the student does not attend school often,” Ms Jack claimed.

According to her statement of claim, five days later, she developed symptoms including ear pain, a rash, and sharp stabbing pains, which were indicative of shingles.

Ms Jack claimed it was as a direct result of the “stress and concern about being potentially affected by the student’s chickenpox” that led her to develop shingles and also “an adjustment disorder with anxiety and depressed mood”.

As a result of her alleged injuries, Ms Jack claimed she had been and would be burdened with a suite of future medical treatments, including electroconvulsive therapy, oculoplastic surgery to her left eyelid, cognitive behavioural therapy, rapid eye movement desensitisation therapy, botulinum toxin injections, and other procedures.

She also claimed amounts for past and future loss of earning capacity.

According to Ms Jack’s statement of claim, the state government owed her a duty of care to prevent her from being exposed to chickenpox in circumstances where the risk of injury was “reasonably foreseeable [and] not insignificant”.

Ms Jack was on secondment to Labrador State School from Southport State High School, where she worked as Indigenous liaison officer. Picture: Glenn Campbell

It breached its duty of care by failing to have a system in place to “identify and quarantine students infected with chickenpox” and in fact sent the danger her way, in that the teacher who sent the child to the sick bay was aware of the infection and did not warn Ms Jack, she alleged.

According to the statement of claim, had such a system been in place, or appropriate warning been given to Ms Jack, she would have either avoided the child completely or used gloves and mask to minimise the risk, thereby not exposing her to the stress that led to her injuries.

In its defence, the state government said it denied many of Ms Jack’s allegations (bizarrely, the parties also list Ms Jack’s age differently – she says she was born on May 8, 1971, the government asserts she was actually born on August 19, 1978).

It says Ms Jack is not medically qualified so she could not know the nexus between the events preceding her diagnosis and the diagnosis itself; her purported injuries were not reasonably foreseeable; there were in fact systems in place for managing students with chickenpox; and gloves and masks were available for the defendant to use and she ought to have known they should have been used when dealing with sick students.

It further disputed the sums claimed by Ms Jack.

“The plaintiff has not and will not suffer the loss she has alleged,” the state government said in its defence.

Both parties have tabled mandatory final offers in a bid to settle the case outside of court, but these are confidential, so it is not known how far apart they are.

Originally published as Rachel Jack: Former teacher’s aide sues Qld Government for $541K over shingles infection