Further review by Merit Protection Commissioner not always justified

Application

An APS employee applied for review of a decision made by their agency under regulation 5.23(3)(g) that, in all the circumstances of the case, review, or further review, of the matters raised in their application was not justified.

Review

Having reviewed the matter, the Merit Protection Commissioner established that the applicant had made several allegations about certain actions by their team leaders and manager more than a year earlier. The agency undertook an internal investigation into those allegations and, while it did not find all of the allegations substantiated, it did take appropriate action in relation to those that were substantiated. The agency also acknowledged the applicant’s value to the workplace and encouraged the applicant to move forward from those events.

Outcome

The Merit Protection Commissioner concluded that, in all the circumstances of the case, the actions by the agency were reasonable.

Given the age, nature and number of matters raised by the applicant, it was very unlikely that even if they were to be re-reviewed, the applicant would get a very different result or much more satisfaction than from the internal review already conducted by the agency.

Often, the only achievable outcome, even when a complaint is otherwise upheld, is an undertaking that a similar matter would be handled differently in the future and this had effectively already happened in this case.

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