The ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal has overturned a ruling that awarded $265,000 to a former temporary employee of the ACT Government. Photo: Claire Fenwicke.
The ACT Government has won its appeal against a former employee who was originally awarded about $265,000 after she claimed she had been discriminated against.
As a result of the appeal, her complaint and the damages she was awarded have been dismissed.
Last year, Region reported how the woman successfully sued the government, represented by the Community Services Directorate (CSD), in the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT).
In a decision on damages by Senior Member Bryan Meagher SC, he stated that she committed a number of crimes in the 2010s, then applied for a government job in 2021, disclosing her criminal record.
Initially, she was unsuccessful due to this record, but after she complained to the Human Rights Commission (HRC), the government began employing her in temporary positions in late 2021.
In March 2023, while in a temporary role, she was informed that her application for a permanent position at the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) had been successful, and she could start in late April 2023.
However, on 6 April 2023, police raided the woman’s home as part of an investigation into a person the woman had been seeing.
Police passed on information to the ACT Integrity Commission, which then told the government that a government computer had been found at the woman’s home and informed them of her criminal record.
“Once the communication from the Integrity Commission was received by the [government], the person tasked with deciding what to do determined to immediately exclude the [woman] from access to the pay system; removed her from active work; placed her on paid ‘gardening leave’ until the end of the temporary contract; and determined her employment would not be renewed,” Senior Member Meagher said.
CIT withdrew its previously accepted job offer in May 2023 after requesting the woman’s criminal record.
ACAT Senior Member Lea Drake found the government had discriminated against the woman in her employment due to her irrelevant criminal record before Senior Member Meagher ordered it to pay her $265,372 in compensation.
But the government appealed its liability and damages. In September 2025, ACAT’s Acting Presidential Member, Dr Warwick Neville, announced that it had been successful in setting aside the original orders and dismissing the woman’s application.
He largely agreed with the government that there had been errors of law in the matter. This meant the appeal against the liability decision was allowed and, as a result, the damages decision could not stand.
For instance, he noted an inconsistency in the liability decision by Senior Member Drake when she discussed the termination of the woman’s employment with the government. Additionally, in the damages decision, Senior Member Meagher stated that the woman had resigned from her position.
“This statement rather begs the question … how one could or should be awarded any compensation simply for resigning their temporary employment that was, in any event, to come to an end in the very near future,” Acting Presidential Member Neville said.
Also, he said there was no consideration of how the woman discharged the burden of proof to establish that the government had discriminated against her.
“What evidence the tribunal considered in this regard was not explained,” he said.
He said some of the tribunal’s prior conclusions were not supported by the evidence and the evidentiary and procedural flaws were enough to set aside the tribunal’s decision.
The CSD was contacted for comment.
Its hard to see Sussan doing anything, including making it to the next election. View