A police officer who missed out on an internal transfer has been awarded $20,000 after a tribunal found he was directly discriminated against in an internal review process due to his gender.
The Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT) found Detective Senior Constable Martin White's gender was a "causative and not insignificant factor" in his internal grievance being rejected after he was overlooked for a transfer to a regional police station.
Mr White filed the grievance after he was overlooked for the transfer, with the position instead awarded to a younger, female applicant.
In his application, Mr White, then 56, said he had long wanted to transfer to the station in question, and intended to retire in the position if he was awarded it.
He was one of nine candidates long-listed for the position but did not make a four-candidate shortlist.
Mr White claimed he was told during a phone conversation by the inspector of Tasmania Police's people and culture division that the selection was "not made due to merit", and that an officer at an earlier career stage, who was unlikely to remain in the position for a long time, was preferred.
He also claimed the district commander told him he had wished he had known he only intended to be in the position for four years.
After he lodged a grievance, the selection process was reviewed by Commander Jason Elmer, who found Mr White's intention to retire in the position should not have been taken into consideration.
Once he was struck that from the process, Commander Elmer identified Mr White, along with the successful applicant, as one of two candidates battling it out for the position, recommending Mr White's application, but strongly supporting the female officer's.
He agreed there was a need to encourage more female officers to work in country police stations, telling the tribunal that the successful applicant's gender "played a part" in the decision, but she also had a "very strong case" in terms of merit.
Assistant Commissioner Adrian Bodnar, who reviewed the process after Mr White elevated his grievance, told the tribunal it was "desirable" to appoint a female officer to the position, but also considered her to be the superior applicant.
He ruled Mr White's internal grievance to be unsubstantiated, claiming that while both candidates had "strong claims" to the position, the female officer had spent more time in her current position.
In her ruling, tribunal member Anita Smith found Mr White was initially treated unfairly due to his age, but said any direct discrimination was fixed during the internal complaint process.
She noted that while no witnesses said Mr White was the best-suited candidate for the position, the grievance process treated him "less favourably" by taking his gender into account.
"There is no guarantee that, without the gender considerations, the grievance process would have been decided any differently or that Assistant Commissioner Bodnar would have been motivated to recommence the selection process or reverse the appointment," she said in her decision.
"However … the complainant clearly had a significant chance of being awarded the transfer and lost that chance because of the treatment of the gender issue.
"His candidacy for the transfer was in no way merely speculative or fanciful, nor was his grievance."
She awarded Mr White $20,000 in compensation.
Tasmania Police said it was considering the decision, and it was not appropriate to provide further comment.
