A misstep in the misconduct rulebook just turned a demotion into a dismissal
A Victorian prison supervisor's demotion and forced transfer was so flawed it amounted to a sacking, the Fair Work Commission's Full Bench has ruled.
The decision, handed down in Sydney on 13 May 2026 in Graeme Taylor v Department of Justice and Community Safety, is the kind of ruling that should land on every employee relations manager's desk. It is a reminder that the fine print of an enterprise agreement is not a suggestion — and that getting creative with disciplinary outcomes can quietly tip an employer into repudiating the very contract it is trying to enforce.
Graeme Taylor was a Prison Supervisor at Langi Kal Kal Prison in regional Victoria, classified at COG3 and earning $99,375. After a misconduct finding, the Department of Justice and Community Safety told him in writing that, "to avoid a more severe discipline outcome such as termination of your employment," it was bumping him down to Senior Prison Officer at the lower COG2B level and shifting him to Hopkins Correctional Centre. The department leaned on clause 25.12(c) of the Victorian Public Service Agreement 2020, which lets an employer combine certain disciplinary outcomes into a single sanction.
Taylor's view was simpler. The agreement, he argued, did not actually allow the department to do both at once in his circumstances. So when the department made the demotion and transfer effective on 17 September 2024 — and dropped his...
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