An aged care nurse who attended work at a nursing home in Melbourne’s south-east after testing positive for COVID-19 and told staff at the facility she wasn’t experiencing any flu-like symptoms has been fined $25,000.
Kamaljeet Kaur Brar, 37, worked three casual shifts at Menarock Life in Highett while she was unwell, despite being told by a doctor on at least two occasions to stay home and isolate.
Kamaljeet Kaur Brar outside court on Wednesday.Credit:Nine
Brar appeared in Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, where she pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to take reasonable care to protect the health and safety of her patients and colleagues.
She was ordered to pay a $25,000 fine but will not have the conviction recorded.
The court heard Brar worked a casual shift at the nursing home on July 26, 2020, just hours after being told by her GP to isolate after reporting feeling feverish.
When she got to work, she told staff carrying out COVID-19 checks at the door she had received her flu vaccine, was not a contact of a known coronavirus case, and did not have any flu symptoms.
She went to work again the next afternoon without letting staff know about her symptoms.
It wasn’t until July 28, two days after being told by her doctor to quarantine, that she went to get tested for COVID-19 at a pathology clinic.
By the time she was notified she had tested positive for the virus 48 hours later, a patient at the facility had also been infected and was taken to hospital for observation.
WorkSafe does not allege Brar caused the virus to spread within the facility, which has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
As a preventative measure, all the other residents were isolated to their rooms, and the staff was directed to wear full personal protective equipment in the workplace.
The following day, Brar once again attended the workplace for an evening shift, knowing she was COVID-positive.
Brar was charged with breaching occupational safety laws in July, becoming the first person to be charged over pandemic-related workplace safety violations by WorkSafe in Victoria.
The court heard Brar worked as a wrestling coach in India before migrating to Australia to study nursing in Tasmania. She graduated in 2019 and relocated to Melbourne shortly after.
She had only been working as a nurse for a few months when the pandemic hit. She has since been disqualified from working as a registered nurse and works as a rideshare driver.
Kamaljeet Kaur Brar worked at Menarock Life in Highett when she was symptomatic and after she tested positive for COVID-19.Credit:Eddie Jim
Her lawyer told the court Brar had just become pregnant at the time of the offending and was experiencing financial difficulties due to her husband being unable to work as a garden landscaper during lockdown.
He said Brar had a lot on her mind and “wasn’t thinking right” when she decided to continue attending work while experiencing symptoms, but had since expressed remorse for her actions.
“It really seems she just continued on her routine going to work as she had been and didn’t make that fateful decision to stop,” he told the court.
Magistrate David Starvaggi said Brar’s actions showed a “flagrant and persistent disregard” for the safety measures put in place to protect vulnerable members of the community from infection.
Starvaggi said Brar was working as a nurse at a time when the “world was changing beyond most people’s understanding” and should have understood the importance of protecting her patients.
“As we all know, tragically many people passed away as a fault of outbreaks of COVID in aged care facilities, amongst other care places,” he told the court.
“Fortunately, that did not occur in this particular instance.
“In my opinion, there needs to be a strong emphasis on general deterrence and there needs to be a complete denunciation of her actions of the highest order.”
WorkSafe Executive Director Health and Safety Narelle Beer said Brar had clearly failed to take reasonable care of her colleagues and residents at the facility.
“Every worker in Victoria has a duty to ensure their actions do not put the health and safety of others in their workplace at risk,” Beer said.
“This includes co-operating with their employer’s efforts to control health and safety risks by following any instructions, policies and procedures, and using supplied protective equipment.”
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