A former Tasmanian health boss has lost her wrongful dismissal case against the Tasmanian Government and may be forced to pay court costs. Jane Holden was suing the Government for $2.2 million for loss of income and damage to her reputation and had argued unproven allegations contained in the 2014 Investigation into allegations of nepotism and conflict of interest by senior health officials report by the Tasmanian Integrity Commission were the basis for her sacking. She was accused of nepotism and misconduct in the report, which was released just prior to her dismissal as acting head of the Southern Area Health Service in 2014. But the Government argued Ms Holden was sacked from her $416,000-a-year role because her substantive position had been made redundant and there was no other suitable role for her. Justice Shan Tennent said there was no formal appointment of Ms Holden to a new role and she was satisfied that a redundancy situation existed. She did not read out her full reasons for the judgement, but they have been published online. Ms Holden, who is now managing a hospital in remote Papua New Guinea, was not in the Supreme Court for the judgement, with Justice Tennent adding she had informed Ms Holden that her presence was not necessary. During her trial in November last year, Ms Holden took to the witness stand and said she was “shattered” over the sacking. She said she had struggled to find a new job and was now earning half of her previous salary. Outside the court, her lawyer Mark Rinaldi said it was a disappointing outcome and his client would be reviewing the decision. When asked if an appeal was likely, he said: “We’ll have to see”. Ms Holden has 21 days to lodge an appeal.
