September 23, 2012

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) – A Jewish Australian man who claimed he was the victim of anti-Semitic abuse at work at a government agency won a compensation claim after a two-year battle.

Stephen Strelecky was an employee at the Australian Taxation Office in 2009 when he claimed he was racially vilified by a colleague.

“The causes of my illness were the initial racism, then victimization, the subsequent flawed investigations and processes, the lack of management support and management hostility,” he said.

The Australian Taxation Office initially found no evidence to support his claim the comments had been made, according to a report in the Herald Sun newspaper on Sept 21. 
But in August 2010 a second investigation found it “most likely” the comments had in fact been made.

Strelecky claimed compensation for stress leave, but was initially rejected. But an appeal, which described the Australian Taxation Office’s investigation as “flawed, found it “likely” he had been subjected to anti-Semitism and he was awarded compensation for his “psychological condition.”

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