It took 30 pages of judgment from Fair Work deputy president Kovacic to finally determine Andrew Powell was not unfairly dismissed by Calvary Health Care ACT Ltd T/A Calvary Public Hospital Bruce. Mr Powell gave evidence together with his wife, Ms Mandy Powell who is employed by Calvary, Ms Linda Krisenthal, an employee of Calvary, Ms Soo Leng Davis, an employee of the Australian National University who works at its Calvary Campus two days each week, and Ms Helen Lee, a former colleague of Mr Powell. Ms Karen Edwards the Chief Executive Officer, Ms Charmaine Hacker, a former employee of Calvary and the person who lodged the complaint against Mr Powell, Ms Alison Easton of Silver Sands Consulting, Ms Nicole Vaivads a former employee of Calvary, and Ms Michelle Vella, who works at Calvary in a human resources role, all gave evidence for Calvary. Mr Powell was employed in an administrative role at Calvary Public Hospital Bruce in the ACT. On 26 May 2016 Mr Powell was suspended without pay as a result of a formal complaint made by Ms Hacker. The suspension letter issued to Mr Powell stated, among other things, that: “This letter is to confirm that you are immediately suspended from all duties without pay while Calvary conducts an investigation into allegations of serious misconduct which have made against you by another member of staff. These allegations if substantiated, represent breach of the Calvary Code of Conduct and Section 9 of the Public Sector Management Act 1994. The specific allegations [sic] against you is that on Thursday, 19 May 2016, you physically assaulted a female member of staff.” In broad terms, Ms Hacker alleged that on 19 May 2016 Mr Powell assaulted her by forcefully grabbing her by the arm and subsequently placing his hands on her hips and propositioning her by suggesting that they “catch up” on the weekend. The alleged assault occurred in an area which was undergoing renovation and was therefore not occupied, meaning there were no witnesses to the alleged incident.
