Keli Lane’s partner Patrick Cogan wins unfair dismissal case against St Pius X College Chatswood
The school teacher partner of convicted baby killer Keli Lane has scored a legal victory against the North Shore Catholic school that sacked her after 27 years of service.
Lane’s long-term partner, Patrick Cogan, was expelled from St Pius
Keli Lane was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to 18 years in prison for the murder of her two-day-old baby Tegan after she gave birth at Sydney’s Auburn Hospital in 1996.
Cogan’s school is run by Edmund Rice Australia, which sent him a letter last October informing him of his dismissal for alleged dishonest communication and failure to comply with instructions regarding media engagement. 60 Minutes.
Cogan was also told that he had failed to comply with instructions not to use his work email account for personal correspondence regarding Lane. The school also alleged that Cogan failed to follow instructions to provide adequate medical information regarding his fitness for work when requested.
Tony Slevin, deputy chairman of the Fair Work Commission, found earlier this year that the reasons given for termination in relation to media appearances and failure to provide medical information were not valid grounds for dismissal.
Slevin stated that when it came to the use of school email, that was a valid reason for termination, but that Cogan’s explanation of its use was a mitigating factor, which supported the finding that the termination was “harsh, unfair or unreasonable.”
The college also failed to notify Cogan of the reasons for his termination and did not give him an opportunity to respond, according to Slevin’s decision.
The Fair Work Commission ordered the school to reinstate Cogan and pay him back.
Edmund Rice Education later sought to appeal the decision, arguing that the decision to reinstate Cogan contained significant factual errors.
These included that the first commissioner “misunderstood” letters from the school to Cogan about his behavior and that “his commitment to his partner was a factor to be taken into account.”
The full panel of the Fair Work Commission disagreed.
“We do not accept that Mr Cogan’s commitment to his partner and his explanation for his breach of email instructions are not matters that the Acting President should have considered, or that there is any reason to suggest that the Acting President failed to consider matters that the College alleges are relevant to the seriousness of Mr Cogan’s conduct,” they said.
In its decision published on Tuesday, the panel concluded that “none of the alleged errors were of a fundamental nature that would result in his reinstatement.”
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