A Fair Work Commission deputy president has warned, in an extraordinary dissenting judgment, against a “medical apartheid” from employers and governments mandating COVID-19 vaccinations.
A full bench majority of the workplace tribunal on Monday upheld the sacking of an aged care receptionist on the basis that she refused a flu shot mandated by NSW public health orders because of a previous alleged allergic reaction.
The ruling was the first full bench decision to deal with mandatory vaccinations and is expected to apply to employer mandates for COVID-19 jabs.
But deputy president Lyndall Dean, a former lawyer and 2016 Coalition appointee, said the decision was “a serious injustice”.
“Never have I more strenuously disagreed with an outcome in an unfair dismissal application,” she said.
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