Summarised by Centrist
The South Australian Employment Tribunal has ruled in favour of a youth worker, Daniel Shepherd, who developed pericarditis after receiving a COVID booster shot mandated by his employer, the Department of Child Protection (DCP). This sets a precedent by ruling against employers trying to deflect responsibility for COVID vaccine injuries by claiming they were merely following government orders.
Despite the DCP’s argument that the injury was caused by a state government Public Health Order (PHO), the Tribunal held the employer responsible because the injury resulted from both the vaccination mandate and his employment.
Journalist Rebekah Barnett, writing for the Canberra Daily quotes Dr Rado Faletic, a vaccine-injured scientist and Co-Founder/Director of COVID vaccine injury support charity COVERSE. Faletic says that the Tribunal decision sends “a clear signal to employers that they have a duty of care to their employees regardless of what governments impose upon them.”
Faletic notes many COVID vaccine-injured individuals still struggle to receive compensation, particularly those with unacknowledged or unclear diagnoses.
Editor’s Note: This case may not be applicable to the private sector and certainly would be appealed if it was a private sector employer, who would be seeking indemnification from the government since the vaccine mandate came from the government.
