Maleny Mitre 10 wins court battle over strict mask mandate

A Sunshine Coast hinterland hardware store has been accused of violating human rights and discriminating against a man who refused to wear a face mask during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Mitre 10 store at Maleny has won a tribunal battle over the face mask mandates during the pandemic.

A Sunshine Coast hardware store accused of violating human rights and discriminating against a man who refused to wear a face mask during the Covid-19 pandemic has had a win in court.

Andrew Kos claimed the Mitre 10 store at Maleny, which is operated by Deltapath Pty Ltd, indirectly discriminated against him when they refused him entry for not wearing a face mask on July 14, 2021, despite his impairment.

The public health order for the Sunshine Coast region at the time was that everyone aged more than 12 years old was to wear a face mask in indoor spaces and the Mitre 10 Maleny store chose to enforce a blanket ban in order to properly comply and protect their staff.

The court documents stated Mr Kos was “challenged very quickly” when he entered the store and denied entry, with the staff offered to bring Mr Kos products he was interested in outside.

Mr Kos initially took his complaint to the Queensland Human Rights Commission before it ended up at the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, where the decision was delivered on March 13.

The court documents from the decision stated it was accepted Mr Kos did suffer from an impairment when he refused to wear the mask.

“Some people will suffer from chronic anxiety and agoraphobia to such an extent that it impairs their thought processes, emotions or judgment or that results in disturbed behaviour, but some will not,” the documents stated.

“Mr Kos explained when giving evidence the difficulties that the conditions caused him, and I am satisfied that they amounted to an impairment on 14 July 2021 as defined in the ADA (anti-discrimination act).”

Member Jeremy Gordon said Mr Kos had not proved he had difficulty wearing a mask at the time of the incident due to his impairment and he was most likely incorrect when he said his doctor told him he would suffer mental and physical harm if he had.

“I think what the doctor said was what Mr Kos explained when giving evidence in the hearing, that he had been advised that it was not sensible to wear a mask if he was having a panic attack. This can be readily accepted,” Mr Gordon said.

Mr Gordon said Mr Kos was not having a panic attack at Mitre 10.

Mr Gordon also said the store’s blanket ban on people coming inside without masks on was not unreasonable for the safety of staff, especially given it was a criminal offence at the time for a business not to comply with the public health order.

“He was aware that a number of his staff had underlying medical conditions such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, asthma, Asperger's syndrome, and post traumatic stress syndrome and he was sure that many customers would also have health issues,” Mr Gordon said.

Ultimately, Mr Gordon ordered the complaint be dismissed.

Originally published as Maleny Mitre 10 wins court battle over strict mask mandate