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Excerpt from this article first published in Human Resources Magazine, Issue 139 - 16 October 2007
The Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission has found that the dismissal of an employee who reported complaints about her employer to an external body was not harsh, oppressive or unfair.
The former employee, a practice manager in a doctor’s general practice, reported complaints to an external body alleging that one of the GP’s assistants was in breach of nursing procedures. The practice manager did not raise her concerns with the employer before making the complaints to the external body and she did not ascertain the relevant facts behind the allegations.
The Commission found that this conduct alone was in breach of the employee’s duty of fidelity to the employer and was sufficient in the circumstances to justify dismissal. The employee had an obligation to gather all relevant facts about her concerns and present those facts to her employer before raising the matter with any external body.
The practice manager argued that she had difficulties in raising issues with her employer about the conduct of the assistant, however, the Commission found that this was not a valid reason to justify the making of the external complaint without first raising the matter with her employer.
The Commission said that the practice manager’s conduct was bound to strike at the heart of the trust and confidence that the employer was entitled to have in the employee and accordingly justified the employer’s decision to terminate the employee.
This case demonstrates that in certain circumstances employees may be dismissed if they make adverse comments about their employer to external parties. However, a failure by an employer to consider all relevant circumstances such as length of service of the employee and whether the employee raised their concerns with the employer before bringing the matter to the attention of the external party, may result in the dismissal being unfair.
Adam Moulton
Lawyer
