The applicant, a Safety Operations Business Partner, made an application under section 112 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA) (WHS Act), claiming that he had been subjected to discriminatory conduct for a prohibited reason. He alleged that after raising a work health and safety concern, the respondent took discriminatory action against him by placing him on a performance improvement plan (PIP) and subsequently dismissing him.

The respondent acknowledged that dismissing the applicant constituted discriminatory conduct under the WHS Act but argued that the reasons for the PIP and dismissal were unrelated to his safety concerns, and thus the discriminatory conduct was not for a prohibited reason.  The respondent contended that the reasons for the PIP and dismissal included that applicant failed to follow directives regarding how his report should be produced and to not provide the report to anyone outside of his department until it was approved, as well as his antagonistic conduct.

The Tribunal found that the applicant did raise a work health and safety concern and that the respondent engaged in discriminatory conduct by dismissing him. However, the Tribunal concluded that the dismissal was not for a prohibited reason related to the safety concern, but instead due to concerns about his conduct, performance, and failure to follow reasonable instructions and dismissed the application.

The decision can be read here.