Hearings have begun for the bullying claim that has fuelled the college of physicians’ leadership stoush.
The RACP leadership meltdown has now oozed its way to the Fair Work Commission, with a bullying claim from the president-elect is now under review.
The bullying claim comes from the RACP president-elect Dr Sharmila Chandran who has alleged that the college board has exhibited bullying behaviour and intentionally limited in her leadership capacities.
“I hope one way or the other, members obtain the transparency they deserve,” Dr Chandran said on LinkedIn.
“And we can move on with our core priorities and delivering value for money for members.”
Hearings with numerous witnesses for either side are expected to occur over the three-day process in Sydney, with further details on the hearings expected to drop on Tuesday along with a full case outline.
If Dr Chandran’s case succeeds, the Fair Work commission can issue a legally-bound “stop bullying” order to those named in the complaint but would need independent legal action if financial compensation was desired.
Allegations of bullying originally emerged following Dr Chandran’s opposition to three new constitutional changes which would give the board more power.
Current RACGP president Professor Jennifer Martin has argued that these changes are essential for effective governance and for better performance to members.
“Our governance is not fit for purpose anymore – we have been told this by regulators and governance experts since 2019,” Professor Martin said via LinkedIn.
“The roles of President and Chair are huge, overlapping and increasingly make the Presidential duties including local and international engagement with colleagues difficult.
“In our complex organization of 33000 members, we deserve to have a President who can focus on being the President.”
Per The Australian, legal representatives for Professor Martin have alleged that the bullying complaint has been “seriously overplayed” and was not as urgent as previously described.
Allegations of disruptive and adversarial behaviour were instead put back onto Dr Chandran by barrister Justin Simpkins, who representing Professor Martin.
As reported in The Australian, this has been attributed to allegations of poor meeting etiquette by Dr Chandran such as interrupting meeting flow and pushed meetings into overtime.
Mr Simpkins alleged that Dr Chandran had displayed “adversarial behaviour and contributed to the toxic culture and the early departure of board members”.
Dr Chandran has denied this.
According to The Australian, Dr Chandran’s legal team has alleged that the RACP has a persistently toxic culture.
This has prompted Dr Chandran to use her application to claim that the college has not made any action to prevent her from being bullied, along with alleging that this bullying has been ongoing since before she was voted in as president-elect.
With the hearings have been expedited to account for the upcoming vote, the hearings have been condensed into 3 days which has raised concerns from both legal teams.
An RACP extraordinary general meeting is expected to be held on 31 October for members to vote on the constitutional changes that have prompted the RACP fallout.
