NT Police brass has backflipped on a decision to force a police officer to “retire” before the officer’s internal appeal was heard, the Northern Territory Police Association has said, but the union will not provide specific details of the case despite having initiated court action.

In a notice to members last Friday, the NTPA said it had lodged an application in the Supreme Court against what it called “unlawful action” by the department on behalf of one member who was ordered to retire under section 89 (d) of the Police Administration Act.

“This application was ultimately not required to proceed given the rescinding of the notice by the department,” the notice said.

“The decision affects several other members who have recently been subject to similar action whilst their appeals are pending before the Inability Appeal Board.

“We have requested the affected members be reinstated. The department has advised they are progressing those matters accordingly.”

NTPA president Paul McCue would not provide details of the court action, other than it related to a medical condition which affected six officers, and that they may still lose their jobs.

He said it was not about officers refusing the mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations.

“The action was taken because the department were attempting to retire a member of the police force while there was an appeal still in play. This particular matter was not vaccine related. It was for other medical reasons,” he said.

“It was our opinion that the department could not lawfully undertake that action. The department disagreed and we were forced to take action in the Supreme Court.

“It was our understanding the department took further advice and after that they rescinded the notice. The officer has been reinstated until the appeals process can be finalised.”

Under Part V of the act, Inability of member to discharge duties, holds that if in the police commissioner’s opinion an officer is unable to do their job, including if it is judged they are “not fit to discharge, suited to perform or capable of efficiently performing” their duties, the officer has 14 days to respond to prove they can do their job properly. If the commissioner is not satisfied with the response they can order a review into the case by one or more members.

If the review upholds the original finding, the commissioner has four options, including standing the member down on full pay on compassionate grounds for three months or forcing them to retire.

The Act states that if an appeal against forced retirement is allowed, the standing down of the member ends on the date on which the appeal is allowed.

They can still be forced to retire if their appeal is unsuccessful.

NT Police media manager Rob Cross did not respond to questions from the NT Independent.