Freedom of information

The Freedom of Information Act 1992 as applied to Western Australia gives the public the right to access government agency documents managed by the Office of the Information Commissioner. The FOI Act is designed to protect the public and the Information Commissioner is an independent officer reporting directly to the Western Australian parliament.

I was sitting at home one Saturday evening; sad really, as I should have been out enjoying myself, I was reflecting on workplace issues. Instead, I was thinking about my workplace experiences when it suddenly occurred to me that I could access the corruption investigation documentation.

As I have been the one identified in less than lawful circumstances in regards to the baseless accusations leveled at me - that gives me the right to search for these documents to defend myself. Naturally these accusations were off the record as has happened a number of times previously and strenuously denied when challenged.

My former manager had leveled a number of accusations at me without any evidence and despite my denials, he wasn't listening. This guy has history, a former colleague has been driven out of the workplace after he had been fired when he referred to him as a fat @#&%.

He took action in the Industrial Relations Court of Western Australia winning his case through his union lawyer. He was not only reinstated but he was paid for the time off work; this was a very expensive lesson for my employer and highly embarrassing.

But it gets better, as he was reinstated he wasn't allowed to work directly under the manager who created the issue so he was moved to another work site. This came at a large financial cost to my employer, it was an inconvenience to all involved and also a personal cost as he was not given much space to operate as manager's meetings are really gossip gatherings.

It would have been easier to just move the manager on, he was the guilty party after all but this would never happen due to their arrogance and incompetence. Finally the manager was moved sideways after a Corruption and Crime Commission investigation made by an anonymous source.

I am guessing this delayed action was the net result of the CCC investigation and since they pointed the finger at me, it might just be in my best interests to delve deeper. What this means is they broke the law with fines and possibly prison time for the perpetrator; that now means I cannot be dismissed in retribution unless they want to end up in court.