An Australian teacher terminated from her work after refusing to take a COVID-19 vaccine has won workers’ compensation on the basis that she suffered psychological injury due to her employer’s implementation of the government mandate.
The case is among only a handful of appeals about unfair dismissal caused by the COVID-19 vaccine mandate in Australia to be recognised by the court. The majority have been dismissed.
It was also one of the few cases where “psychological injury” was at the centre of the applicant’s arguments against the mandate. Most other appeals cited concerns regarding the lawfulness of the vaccination mandate or the efficiency of the vaccine itself.
Courts found in most of these appeals, however, that the complainants failed to prove that their employer’s disciplinary action was unreasonable.
The Case
According to a court document issued on Nov. 3 obtained by The Epoch Times, the Personal Injury Commission, which handled the case, ruled that former Canada Bay special education teacher Diane Dawking “sustained psychological injury” that arose “out of or in the course of her employment” with the New South Wales (NSW) Department of Education. It also said that “employment was the main contributing factor to such injury.”
