NSW: Govt to appeal stress compo to affair teacher

AAP General News (Australia)
04-05-2004
NSW: Govt to appeal stress compo to affair teacher

SYDNEY, April 5 AAP - The NSW government will appeal against a $28,000 "stress" compensation
award made to a Sydney high school teacher sacked for having an affair with a teenage
student.

Jeff Sinclair was sacked last year after a departmenatal investigation found he had
breached the trust that is essential between teacher and student.

He was removed from the classroom in 2001 and given an administrative job after allegations
he was having an affair with student Nicki Shackle, then 15 and 33 years his junior.

The couple - who maintained they did not have sex until Ms Shackle turned 16 - now
live together in Sydney.

A police and community services department investigation into allegations of child
abuse took more than two years to complete.

Mr Sinclair went to the NSW Workers Compensation Commission (WCC), claiming "psychological
injury".

He claimed he was stressed on the grounds he had been taken away from his normal duties
without being told why, and was not told for some time.

The commission has awarded the former teacher almost $28,000, saying it was not satisfied
he had engaged in "serious and wilful misconduct" at the time of the alleged improper
relationship.

NSW Education Minster Andrew Refshauge said today the government would appeal the WCC decision.

If the government lost, it would amend legislation to ensure it could not be penalised
for properly investigating a child abuse claim.

Dr Refshauge conceded the investigation into the case had been slow.

But he said he was more concerned about the WCC arbitrator's decision to grant Mr Sinclair
"a stress claim".

"I don't believe that should be the case, and we're appealling the decision," Dr Refshauge
told ABC radio.

"We believe that we should have the right to investigate appropriately a child-abuse
claim, and make sure that that claim doesn't lead to us incurring a financial penalty
- and the person we're investigating getting a benefit from it."

AAP sd/maur

KEYWORD: SINCLAIR

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