Court dismisses bullying and unfair dismissal case against SBS

A former SBS journalist who sued the multicultural public broadcaster to get her job back after an independent investigation found she suffered workplace harassment has had her case dismissed by the Federal Court.

Journalist Pallavi Jain launched legal action in 2021 to have her job reinstated at SBS, where she worked in the Hindi language team under executive producer Kumud Merani from 2013 until she was sacked in December 2019. Judge Robert Cameron dismissed the case earlier this month, finding SBS had not breached the FairWork Act when it sacked her.

Merani was not a defendant in the case and was not called to give evidence. Merani denies the allegations.

Former SBS journalist Pallavi Jain’s attempt to sue the broadcaster and get her job back has been dismissed in the Federal Court.

Jain said she was dismayed by the judgment, which ruled in favour of SBS despite Jain and SBS agreeing she was bullied and harassed by her manager and that it had impacted her mental health.

“I was bullied and harassed by my manager and... this impacted my mental health,” she said. “What the judgment implies is that, irrespective of what happened, it remained an inherent requirement of my job to report to the same manager and since I was unable to do so due to the health risks involved, SBS had the right to terminate my employment.

“This judgment has made my resolve to fight workplace bullying even stronger so that no one else has to go through the trauma I went through.”

An SBS spokesperson said the ruling outlined the support measures the broadcaster had given Jain throughout the dispute.

“SBS prioritises the health and wellbeing of all our people, and it is unfortunate that, despite all efforts made, there was not another suitable role available,” the spokesperson said.

Maurizio Pascucci, the program manager overseeing nine language teams at SBS including Hindi at the time of the dispute, told the court that Jain had asked a number of times to no longer report to Merani. Management refused the request because it was not possible for her to be managed by someone who didn’t speak the language.

“This is because it is essential that the people working in these teams are fluent in the relevant language that the team is producing stories in,” Pascucci said. “While I have ultimate responsibility for editorial issues across the nine language teams that I manage, I do not speak most of those languages, so I am heavily reliant on the [executive producer] of each language team to be exercising editorial judgment over the content and communicating with their [senior producers] about it.”

The ruling said the organisation appointed three individual intermediaries to repair the working relationship between Jain and Merani and oversee her return to work. It also said Jain applied for more than 70 other positions both at SBS and at other organisations, but was unsuccessful.

Merani, who has since retired from SBS, said she was satisfied with the judgment and while “every story has two sides”, Merani maintains that “a dignified silence makes the most powerful statement”.

“I have dealt with the issue from start to finish with complete dignity,” she said. “My community has the fullest faith in me. I am very happy with my life.”

Jain’s case against SBS came after the broadcaster was hit with unrelated allegations of workplace bullying and racism in 2020, after high-profile journalist and presenter Lee Lin Chin revealed she had resigned due to concerns about complaints of bullying and lack of diversity within the organisation. Former Indigenous reporters have also described a toxic culture and systemic racism within SBS.

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