Islamic council mired in harassment dispute

A legal battle at Australia’s peak Islamic council is heating up.

Australian Federation of Islamic Councils CEO Kamalle Dabboussy. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer

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The head of Australia’s peak Islamic council has said the only reason he terminated the chief executive’s contract was because he believed he had engaged in sexual harassment and was guilty of serious misconduct, while the CEO has argued in court it was the ­result of “adverse action” against him over earlier complaints and disagreements.

Australian Federation of Islamic Councils CEO Kamalle Dabboussy also claims the president, Rateb Jneid, told him the allegations – in which Mr Dabb­oussy allegedly said to a female sub­ordinate “the camera doesn’t really do you justice” – were not a big deal and that the company would “sort it out”, after he was temporarily stood down for an external workplace investigation.

Dr Jneid denied this in his defence to the Federal Court.

The Australian understands that throughout the proceedings, Mr Dabboussy’s lawyers will question the scope of the report, who was interviewed, and whether the alleged actions meet the threshold for “serious misconduct”.

Mr Dabboussy – who was terminated by Dr Jneid last month after his new direct report complained he kept “prolonged eye contact” with her “which made her feel extremely awkward and uneasy” – has since been reinstated to his position by a Federal Court judge while the unfair dismissal case plays out in court.

Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Rateb Jneid. Picture: Matthew Poon

The Weekend Australian understands he is working from home.

Mr Dabboussy, who was in the job for a year minus one day, claims he was first stood down and investigated, and then terminated, as an “unlawful adverse action” because he inquired with Dr Jneid about disclosures to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, and wrote a complaint about a letter Dr Jneid sent to him about the allegations.

Mr Dabboussy claims that in March he made inquiries with Dr Jneid about the removal of “related party transactions” from a request for information from the ACNC and failed to include a bank account associated with an AFIC-owned mosque location in Perth. He said Dr Jneid opposed Mr Dabboussy relating to disclosures to ACNC, which Dr Jneid denied.

Mr Dabboussy also claimed that AFIC unlawfully terminated him just seven hours before he was entitled to lodge an unfair dismissal claim, when he worked a full year at the company.

In its defence, AFIC and Dr Jneid denied these claims, and said “the termination was taken because it believed that (Mr Dabboussy) had engaged in sexual harassment and was guilty of serious misconduct justifying summary termination” and relied on the investigation by WorkLogic which found the woman’s complaint was “substantiated on the balance of probabilities”.

Mr Dabboussy admitted he did say to the complainant “the camera does not do you justice” on one occasion but it was in the context of him having previously met her only on a Zoom call. He denies her other ­allegations.

Mr Dabboussy, in his statement of claim, said being stood down and then terminated had caused him distress, humiliation, psychological harm and lost work opportunities in his field.

In July, the new female employee, who had come in a few days earlier to sign an employment agreement, sent a letter to Dr Jneid making the allegations.