Monique Ryan claims Sally Rugg put passengers at risk by flying with Covid in unfair dismissal case

A political chief of staff received a formal warning from her boss for putting other passengers at risk after she boarded a flight while infected with Covid-19, a court has heard.

New details of the alleged workplace dispute between federal political staffer Sally Rugg and independent Kooyong MP Dr. Monique Ryan emerged in documents filed in Federal Court for the first time on Friday.

Ms Rugg appeared in Melbourne Federal Court on Friday for an urgent application asking the court to prevent her job from being terminated in what is being billed as a potential landmark “test case”.

The court heard that Ms Rugg tested positive for Covid while working for Dr Ryan at Parliament House in Canberra in November 2022.

Dr Ryan claims Ms Rugg then put passengers at risk by boarding a flight back to Melbourne, according to an affidavit.

He added that he took the incident very seriously and that he did not believe that any doctor would recommend a person infected with covid to fly.

“Ms. Rugg did not accept the seriousness of what she had done,” Dr. Ryan’s affidavit read.

Dr Ryan, a former pediatric neurologist, scolded the vast majority of opposition MPs for not using petitions in parliament last August.

Ms. Rugg took stress leave after the fight with Dr. Ryan and has not returned to work since.

But technically she is still an employee of the parliamentarian, who last May ousted then-treasurer Josh Frydenberg from his seat as one of Teal’s independents.

Rugg’s lawyers argued that their client had medical advice to return home before Judge Debra Mortimer ruled that she did not recommend boarding a flight.

“You can’t hide from it,” he told the court.

‘There is no letter [advising her to board a flight].’

An affidavit submitted by Ms Rugg to the court also claimed that Dr Ryan told her: “I want to be Prime Minister one day.”

‘You don’t understand, I need to be the best, this is bigger than Kooyong.

“I want to be prime minister one day, and I need to know that my staff are prepared to work hard for me.”

Teal MP Monique Ryan (pictured last month) told the court that she had warned her political staff that she might have put other passengers at risk.

Ms Rugg filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Dr Ryan and the Commonwealth in January, alleging that she was threatened with dismissal for refusing to work unreasonable hours.

Dr Ryan told the court that Ms Rugg resigned of her own free will, however the staff member’s lawyer told the court she was pushed or pushed into resigning.

Ms. Rugg alleged in court documents that she would work 70 to 80 hour weeks for Dr. Ryan, including working both weekend days, writing speeches and other tasks.

He claimed that Dr. Ryan asked him to do more than that doing community engagement work, including managing volunteers, projects and events in the MP’s Kooyong constituency.

Dr. Ryan’s tone and facial expressions were very angry when issues arose about Ms. Rugg missing some duties due to an allegedly high workload, Ms. Rugg said in an affidavit.

The MP is fighting the case and has rejected Ms Rugg’s claims about hostility and tension in the workplace.

Sally Rugg’s (left) desire to continue working for teal MP Monique Ryan (right) may simply be unfeasible, a judge told Melbourne Federal Court on Friday.

Ms. Rugg’s attorney, Angel Aleksov, said his client was employed as a consultant, not specifically as a chief of staff, and was paid $136,000 per year plus $30,000 in parliamentary allowances.

‘Mrs Rugg was clearly saying, ‘I can’t do this community engagement job.’ Dr. Ryan said ‘no, I need you to work harder’, he told her to the court.

‘Common human experience tells us that a salary of $130,000 with a $30,000 bonus does not justify someone working more than 70 hours a week, week after week.

‘This has a test case written all over it.’

He said Ms Rugg was willing to return to work as an adviser to Dr Ryan, doing policy and media work, while the dispute continued in court.

However, Justice Mortimer said this may not be feasible, given the personal working relationship MPs had with staff.

“It seems to me that what the applicant is inviting is for the court to supervise it or it is simply not viable,” he said.

The hearing continues.

Sally Rugg (pictured with her lawyers) filed an unfair dismissal lawsuit against Dr Monique Ryan and the Commonwealth in January.