Industrial Relations Commission refuses to hear Harristown High School teacher’s appeal over Covid vaccine

A teacher who was stood down without pay for refusing to get vaccinated during the Covid pandemic had her appeal thrown out.

The Industrial Relations Commission has refused to hear a Toowoomba teacher’s appeal after she was stood down for refusing to get a Covid vaccine.

In a ruling handed down by the court on August 9, Commissioner Christopher Gazenbeek said the woman’s appeal was on the grounds of similar matters that had already been dealt with by the commission, so to hear another appeal would be a waste of resources.

The appellant Kirsty Sankey, was a teacher at Harristown State High School when the Director General of the Queensland Education issued a directive that all employees working in ‘high-risk’ settings were required to get a vaccination against Covid.

Ms Sankey was required to receive the first dose by December 17, 2021 unless she had an exemption.

When she failed to do so, Ms Sankey was suspended from her job without pay and issued with a ‘show cause’ notice by the Office of the Director General of the Department of Education.

She responded to the notice saying that the department had taken a one-size fits all approach, that it had not considered alternatives used in other workplaces such as moving staff to less contact-prone environments, that the direction allowed for staff to remain unvaccinated if they submitted to regular testing, and that department failed to consult with staff.

The department rejected these arguments and responded by docking Ms Sankey’s pay for 20 weeks and issued with a second show cause notice.

In response Ms Sankey submitted on August 8, 2022 that docking her pay was excessive, that staff were no longer required to be vaccinated and that the financial penalty would negatively impact her mental health.

The department rejected these arguments which led Ms Sankey filing documents for an IRC appeal on May 17, 2024.

In her appeal Ms Sankey claimed the department had violated the Human Rights Act by requiring her to undergo medical treatment without full, free and informed consent, and that there was a lack of accurate information about the risks and benefits of the Covid vaccines.

She also references two Supreme Court rulings that found the vaccine mandates for Queensland Police Service and Queensland Ambulance Service personnel were unlawful.

Ms Sankey argued the rulings inferred that similar mandates for teachers would also be unlawful.

Importantly, for the first time in the process, Ms Sankey claimed she was hesitant because she was hoping to fall pregnant and was worried about the risk to a potential unborn child.

These arguments were dismissed entirely by the commission.

“The volume of decision issues by this commission finding that the department’s direction was lawful and reasonable is indeed so significant that further consideration of any argument to the contrary is rendered entirely unnecessary,” Commissioner Gazenbeek said.

Commissioner Gazenbeek added that Ms Sankey overlooked the reliable body of decisions and instead made selective use of one Supreme Court ruling made in relation to vaccine mandates for police and paramedics.

“This selective approach is of little benefit to Ms Sankey’s appeal,” he said.

Commissioner Gazenbeek also note for completeness that the while Ms Sankey was entitled to her views the risks associated with the Covid vaccines, that differed from the established medical evidence, and he cited statements from Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation

“The Commission has repeatedly determined that vaccine hesitancy does not constitute a reasonable excuse for noncompliance with a lawful direction to be vaccinated,” Commissioner Gazenbeek said.

Ms Sankey remains employed by Queensland Education.