2018-10-04
The complainant has epilepsy and was a graduate nurse with the respondent public health service. She said she had a seizure before commencing employment. She said the health service’s occupational physician declared her fit for duties so long as she was not placed on night-shift or back-to-back shifts. The complainant claimed the health service told her that the restrictions could not be accommodated in her proposed rotations and therefore allocated her to one ward for her entire graduate year. She also alleged the health service told her she was unemployable because of her restrictions.
The health service argued that the role of graduate nurse did not entitle any nurse to any specific rotation. The health service claimed nurses working in the units where the complainant wished to work were required to work night-shifts and back-to-back shifts. The health service said that, in order to accommodate the complainant’s disability, it allocated her to the day-surgery, where she learned all the skills required of graduate nurses.
The complaint was resolved with an agreement that the health service write to the complainant expressing regret for the manner in which changes to her provisional graduate nurse placement were communicated to her. The health service agreed to explore secondment opportunities for the complainant that would accommodate her restrictions, amend the process for notification of changes to the provisional graduate nurse positions and deliver disability discrimination training for all nurse unit managers and other nursing staff involved in recruitment.
Year
Discrimination type
Disability Discrimination Act
Grounds
Disability
Areas
Employment
Revised terms and conditions
Statement of regret
Named individual(s) to undertake anti-discrimination/EEO training
Policy change/Change in practice
Training – anti-discrimination/EEO training introduced
Amount