Former manager loses Coast hotel compo claim

A former venue manager of a Noosa hotel has lost an appeal for workers compensation after claims that his job led him to being diagnosed with depression.

Nathan Weiss lost his appeal against Villa Noosa Hotel, alleging a meeting with the operations manager led him to be diagnosed with depression. Picture: File

A former venue manager of a Noosa hotel has lost an appeal for workers compensation after claiming his job led him to being diagnosed with depression.

Nathan Weiss alleged that the way he was treated in the job had such a significant impact on his mental health that it led to him being diagnosed with anxiety and later depression.

Court documents showed Mr Weiss was working as a venue manager for the Villa Noosa Hotel when a meeting was organised between himself and regional operations manager, Dan Drane, on June 25, 2018.

Mr Weiss claimed Mr Drane unfairly accused him of "stealing time" when he had only taken two time off in lieu (toil) days, without getting approval first.

Mr Weiss also said Mr Drane unreasonably raised concerns about his performance that had not previously been discussed with him.

Issues with Mr Weiss' performance included that he needed to involved in all areas of

the business, as well as the high turnover of assistant managers.

Mr Weiss' claim was originally rejected in the Caloundra Magistrates Court on October 3, 2018.

He had been claiming compensation for a psychological injury that he alleged resulted from the meeting with Mr Drane.

In a decision handed down by Queensland Industrial Relations Commission last week, Mr Weiss' appeal against the decision was also rejected.

The Workers' Compensation Regulator argued that the meeting was so Mr Weiss had a chance to explain why he took the unapproved toil days.

It was also argued that Mr Weiss' performance issues discussed in the meeting had been raised earlier in the year during an annual performance review.

Documents showed Mr Weiss, who started working as the venue manager for the Villa Noosa Hotel in February 2015, knew he needed to have his toil days first approved by Mr Drane.

Mr Drane also claimed that there had been previous issues with Mr Weiss failing to clock on and off correctly.

The document read that Mr Weiss took two unapproved days off from June 22-24, 2018, to go golfing with his friends.

Mr Weiss claimed in court that it was the fault of the assistant manager who had failed to submit his toil days to get approved by Mr Drane.

However, Mr Drane said assistant managers weren't allowed to apply for leave days.

Mr Drane gave evidence that in the meeting held on June 25, 2018, he was not aggressive and had simply asked Mr Weiss if he understood how applying for toil leave worked, as well as reminding him that it wasn't the first time the process hadn't been followed.

Mr Weiss, who stopped working at the Villa Noosa Hotel shortly after the meeting, said he recalled Mr Drane telling him he was the worst manager in the portfolio and was underperforming in all areas.

Mr Drane said he had never been aggressive towards Mr Weiss in the meeting, saying Mr Weiss struggled to accept constructive feedback

The court decided that Mr Drane was not unreasonable to discuss with Mr Weiss why he had not gotten his toil days approved before taking the days off.

"I am of the view that Mr Weiss' lack of insight about concerns previously raised by Mr Drane in conjunction with his inflated views about his own performance, resulted in a situation where he became genuinely distressed as a result of his meeting with Mr Drane on 25 June 2018," the court judgment read.

The appeal was dismissed.

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