Chloe Sultana pursues Mr Whiteboards over father’s Covid death

In what is thought to be the first case of its kind, a Melbourne woman has taken her late father’s employer to court after he contracted Covid at work.

A grieving daughter has launched legal action against her late father’s employer after he contracted Covid-19 at his workplace.

Michael Sultana, 51, died in October last year just two weeks after catching the deadly virus while working at a whiteboard manufacturing warehouse in Williamstown.

In what is understood to be among first case of its kind filed in Victoria, Mr Sultana’s daughter, Chloe, has taken the company — Mr Whiteboards — to court for compensation over her father’s death.

In court documents seen by the Herald Sun, Ms Sultana claims her father died as a result of his employment at the warehouse.

Ms Sultana alleges the business did not require employees to take adequate steps such as wearing any form of face masks or to use hand sanitisers to prevent or reduce the risk of contracting Covid-19 while on site.

Ms Sultana further claims the nature of his employment gave rise to a significantly greater risk of contracting the disease.

After contracting the virus on September 22, 2021, Mr Sultana passed away 16 days later on October 8.

Michael Sultana died in October last year two weeks after catching Covid while working at a manufacturing warehouse in Williamstown.

Ms Sultana told the Herald Sun she was broken by her father’s sudden death and was in isolation when he was rushed to hospital.

“Losing dad during Covid was difficult, it broke me,” she said.

“We won’t share special life events together; he won’t see me get married or see his grandchildren,”

“But we also won’t be doing our day-to-day routine anymore. I miss dinner with dad every night and good morning texts every day,” she said.

Ms Sultana, who had lived with her father at the time of his death, submitted a dependency compensation claim to Mr Whiteboards in November last year.

The business rejected the claim three months later in early February.

Associate lawyer at Zaparas Lawyers, Kehela Vandenberg, who is representing Ms Sultana said many Victorians were under the mistaken belief that in order to pursue a WorkCover claim for Covid-19, they must prove they or their loved one contracted the disease at work, whereas it can be sufficient to instead show that their work significantly increased their risk of contracting the condition.

“Unfortunately this has left workers under financial pressures who are unable to work due to the ongoing effects of Covid-19 and/or requiring medical treatment that could be covered via the WorkCover system,” Ms Vandenberg said.

“This includes partners and dependent children of deceased workers without financial support,” she said.