Ryan cited Rugg’s decision to travel by aeroplane while she had Covid as a reason for losing trust and confidence in her
Rugg’s counsel, Angel Aleksov, told the court that Rugg’s salary of a little over $136,607 plus a payment of $30,205 for working some additional hours “doesn’t justify working 70 hours a week, week-in, week-out”.Justice Mortimer suggested the full case could take two weeks to hear, and may require evidence about what “reasonable hours” staffers in parliament work, including evidence from “staffers of other politicians”.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Aleksov said that Rugg exercised a right in the Fair Work Act to refuse unreasonable additional hours and was the subject of “retaliation” as a result. Aleksov submitted that staffers’ eligibility for a payment of $32,000 for additional hours could increase what was reasonable, but did not justify Rugg’s workload, which included Ryan’s request for her to do community work on weekends.
Aleksov said that Rugg was not “work-shy” and she could do community engagement work, provided that tasks were reprioritised and some of her other duties were given to other staff.
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