Teacher challenges sacking
A West Coast teacher fired four weeks after revealing her HIV positive status has laid a complaint with the Human Rights Commission.
Gayle Jonker said she was ‘‘disturbed’’ by the way her HIV positive disclosure was handled by her employer, calling it uninformed and uneducated.
A letter was sent to parents, along with a child illness pamphlet. A letter offering staff counselling was sent also.
The 55-year-old was manager at Learning Adventures daycare centre in Cobden, which is owned by Evolve Education, for just under three months. Evolve said her dismissal was unrelated to her health status.
Jonker said she was considering her legal options but wrote to the commission because she believed she was discriminated against and her human rights had been violated.
She told her employers about her HIV as a courtesy because she was appearing in a Stuff article on breaking down the stigma attached to the condition.
Jonker said she was ‘‘mortified’’ when the letter was sent to parents soon after.
‘‘Some parents were unhappy or shocked how they found out, but most have been nothing but kind. The child illness policy with this letter would have scared them because it implies I could make their children sick.’’
Some parents asked Jonker for her medical records and personal information about her sex life.
She said she felt ‘‘named and shamed’’ and excluded from any input on how to inform parents.
Evolve said in a letter after Jonker complained that the issue ‘‘was to become so public we believe we had an obligation to the families to ensure they had information ahead of the publication of the article in Stuff’’.
‘‘...From our perspective, what is most important is for you to be assured that Evolve does not tolerate discrimination at any level,’’ the letter said.
Jonker said she was told she was fired under the 90-day legislation because her relationship with her managers had become ‘‘untenable’’. Reasons put to her at a performance meeting included that Jonker had been ‘‘snappy’’, she was taking too long for lunch breaks and that she had been rude to a grandparent of one of the children.
Evolve Education Group chief executive Mark Finlay said the employment matter between Learning Adventures Cobden and Jonker was ‘‘private and must remain confidential’’.
‘‘This employment matter and Ms Jonker’s HIV disclosure are completely unrelated,’’ he said.