DUBOW v Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service

The applicant, Ms. Dubow, appealed a determination by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service regarding disciplinary action. The dispute concerned Ms. Dubow's conduct and communications, which the CEO viewed as impertinent and insubordinate. The CEO had issued formal warnings, which Ms. Dubow contested through a series of letters. The matter came before Judge Burnett.

The central legal issue was whether Ms. Dubow's conduct and communications constituted insubordination, thereby justifying the disciplinary action taken by the CEO. This involved assessing the nature of her correspondence, particularly her defiance of the CEO's authority and her assertions regarding her professional role and obligations. The court was required to determine if her actions were indeed resistant to and in defiance of the CEO's authority, as found by a disciplinary investigator.

Judge Burnett concurred with the CEO's observations regarding Ms. Dubow's communications, finding her submissions to be gratuitous and inflammatory. The court accepted the finding of a disciplinary investigator that Ms. Dubow's words were resistant to and in defiance of the CEO's authority, a conclusion further supported by her subsequent letter. The court viewed her assertion of not being subordinate to the CEO, and her references to her cat and deceased mother in that context, as indicative of insubordinate behaviour. The court ultimately found that Ms. Dubow had failed to demonstrate why formal disciplinary action was unwarranted.