The Tasmanian Industrial Commission has ordered the reinstatement of a hospital intern doctor dealing with mental health issues after it found he was unfairly dismissed by the Tasmanian Health Service.
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Dr Raajiv Prasad had taken extended approved personal leave during his final clinical rotation of his internship at the Royal Hobart Hospital last November.
When he had told the service in January he was ready to return to complete the intern program, he received a letter from medical services executive director Jennifer King which stated his employment would not be extended.
He applied to have the matter heard by the industrial commission on the basis there was a reasonable expectation his employment under the intern program would be ongoing and there was no valid reason to terminate his employment.
The THS submitted to the commission there could be no such expectation and that his employment was not terminated by the service, rather, his employment concluded in January under the fixed-term instrument of his appointment.
Dr Prasad told the commission he had not received any communication that he would not be able to complete the program if his internship time frame expired.
The commission heard Dr Prasad had missed out on being selected for the intern program in 2016.
He applied to have the decision reviewed by Equal Opportunity Tasmania after he alleged the decision was discriminatory on the basis of age and disability.
This was after he had been informed his application was unsuccessful because he was not a recent graduate.
The Anti-Discrimination Commissioner in 2017 handed down a decision in his favour which resulted in him being identified as a priority applicant. This resulted in him obtaining a intern position a year later.
There was a decision made last year to review Dr Prasad's capacity to continue in his role and an outcome determined in November.
Industrial commission deputy president Neroli Ellis said the process was flawed as he was not provided with the right to be informed about the review and respond to the review committee's recommendation.
"As I have determined, Dr Prasad had a reasonable expectation of continuing employment to complete the intern program," she said.
She said she did not accept an argument from the THS that to bring about discussion on ongoing employment openly to his attention could be considered a form of bullying.
