Disciplined or dismissed as a WA paramedic? The clock is 21 days.

Clause 14, "Employee behaviours and disciplinary matters", is new in the 2024 agreement. It came out of the 2025 bargaining, where St John's offer included "A clause to be inserted into the Proposed Agreement that defines performance management; misconduct; and serious misconduct" (St John Ambulance Western Australia Ltd and United Workers' Union and Ambulance Employees Association of Western Australia [2025] FWC 1375 at [8]).

The clause covers four things:

1. Behaviour.
   1. Employees are expected to keep a workplace free from bullying, harassment, discrimination, victimisation "or any form of disrespectful, discourteous, or intolerant behaviour". Failure "may lead to disciplinary action through a misconduct (or serious misconduct) or a performance pathway" (cl 14.1(a)–(b)).
   2. St John "recognises the distinction between performance issues and misconduct" (cl 14.1(c)).
2. Performance.
   1. A performance concern is a failure to meet an expected standard. The standards come from the position description, "policies, and procedures (including clinical guidelines)", the agreements, the contract and reasonable and lawful directions (cl 14.2(a)).
   2. "Serious failures to apply due care and skill to your role may amount to misconduct" (cl 14.2(b)).
3. Warnings.
   1. Under the heading "Preventing Underperformance", St John "should" set expectations in position descriptions, address issues as soon as reasonably practicable and hold regular reviews (cl 14.3(a)).
   2. Then: "St John does not need to issue a warning before ending an Employees employment, but St John agrees that Employees should generally be provided with a chance to fix and performance issues" (cl 14.3(b)).
4. Misconduct and serious misconduct.
   1. Misconduct "is a breach of conduct requirements, or behavioural standards required by St John", one-off or repeated. The examples include failing to comply with the Code of Conduct or other policies, failing to follow a lawful and reasonable direction, failing to disclose information that may affect capacity for the inherent requirements of the role, abusive language, misusing St John property, and "Failing to exercise due care in the performance of your role to the expected standard" (cl 14.4).
   2. Serious misconduct "involves an Employee deliberately behaving in a way that is inconsistent with continuing their employment". The examples are serious and imminent risk to health and safety or to the employer's reputation or profits, theft, fraud, assault, sexual harassment, and refusing a lawful and reasonable instruction that is part of the job (cl 14.5).
   3. St John may terminate without notice for serious misconduct (cl 46.1). Otherwise notice runs from one to four weeks by length of service, with an extra week for an employee over 45 with two or more years' service (cl 46.2).

The clause sets no steps at all. It does not say:

1. how an allegation is investigated, or by whom;
2. that you must be told the allegation in writing, or given time to respond;
3. how many warnings come before dismissal, or when a warning expires;
4. any time limits.

The agreement also has no suspension or stand-down clause, no drug and alcohol testing clause and no clinical incident or clinical review process. The procedural fairness that does apply comes from the unfair dismissal law (below) and from St John's own policies, which are not part of the agreement.

The dispute procedure covers "any dispute relating to the National Employment Standards or any grievance, dispute or matter which is raised by St John, an Employee or group of Employees, except disputes relating to the termination of an Employee's Employment or disciplinary procedures" (cl 11).

Three consequences follow:

1. a disciplinary outcome or a termination cannot be taken through the supervisor, head of department and FWC steps in cl 11(a)–(d);
2. the cl 11(g) right to "appoint or be accompanied by a representative of their choice" applies "At all stages of the procedure set out above", so it does not reach a disciplinary meeting;
3. whether a dispute about how cl 14 itself is applied counts as a dispute about "disciplinary procedures" has not been decided in any published decision found.

The communications officers' agreement (AE524801) and the patient transport agreement (AE524905) have the same exclusion (AE524801 cl 29; AE524905 cl 36). Neither has a clause like cl 14.

St John may require a health assessment, at its cost, as a condition of employment, to evaluate fitness for work, or to evaluate a return after extended illness or injury (cl 43(a)). The safeguards are:

1. the employee nominates the healthcare professional from a choice of two that St John selects from its referral list (cl 43(c));
2. the employee may ask for a copy of the report (cl 43(d)(i));
3. the employee may get a second opinion, at their own cost from a practitioner of their choice or at St John's cost from the referral list (cl 43(d)(ii));
4. the employee may appeal a decision based on the assessment to "the relevant Director for a review of the decision" (cl 43(d)(iii)).

1. Who can claim.
   1. You must have completed the minimum employment period, which is 6 months for an employer that is not a small business (FW Act ss 382(a), 383(a)), and be covered by an award or agreement or earn under the high income threshold (s 382(b)).
   2. St John's on-road, communications and patient transport staff are covered by agreements.
2. When. "Within 21 days after the dismissal took effect" (s 394(2)(a)). Later only if the FWC is satisfied there are exceptional circumstances, weighing the reason for the delay, any action taken to dispute the dismissal, prejudice to the employer, the merits and fairness (s 394(3)).
3. The test. A dismissal is unfair if it was harsh, unjust or unreasonable and not a genuine redundancy (s 385).
4. The factors the FWC must take into account (s 387):
   1. whether there was a valid reason related to capacity or conduct, including its effect on the safety and welfare of other employees (s 387(a));
   2. whether you were notified of that reason (s 387(b));
   3. whether you were given an opportunity to respond (s 387(c));
   4. any unreasonable refusal to let you have a support person at discussions relating to dismissal (s 387(d));
   5. for unsatisfactory performance, whether you were warned about it before the dismissal (s 387(e));
   6. the size of the employer's enterprise and whether it has human resources specialists, as they bear on the procedure followed (s 387(f)–(g));
   7. any other matter the FWC considers relevant (s 387(h)).
5. How this meets cl 14. Clause 14.3(b) says no warning is needed before dismissal. Section 387(e) still requires the FWC to consider whether a person dismissed for unsatisfactory performance was warned first, and s 387(b)–(c) still ask whether the person was told the reason and given a chance to respond. The agreement does not displace those factors.
6. Remedies. Reinstatement is the primary remedy; compensation may be ordered only if reinstatement is inappropriate (s 390(3)).

1. An employer must not take adverse action against a person because of a "workplace right" (FW Act s 340).
   1. A workplace right includes being "able to make a complaint or inquiry" in relation to employment (s 341(1)(c)).
   2. For a paramedic, a complaint about ramping, fatigue, crewing or clinical safety can be a workplace right.
2. Adverse action because a person is, or is not, a member or officer of an "industrial association", or takes part in its lawful activities, is also prohibited (ss 346, 347).
   1. "Industrial association" includes an association of employees "whether formed formally or informally" that has as a purpose the protection and promotion of their employment interests (s 12).
   2. Registration is not required, so membership of either the UWU or the AEAWA is protected.
3. If the action was taken, the employer must prove it was not for the prohibited reason (s 361).
4. For a dismissal, the application to the FWC is under s 365 and must be made within 21 days after the dismissal took effect, or later in exceptional circumstances (s 366(1)–(2)). The FWC first deals with it by conference; if that fails it issues a certificate, and the matter can go to arbitration by consent or to court (ss 368–369).
5. Raising a safety issue is also protected by safety law. Dismissing a worker or altering their position to their detriment is "discriminatory conduct", and engaging in it for a prohibited reason, which includes raising an issue or concern about work health and safety, is prohibited (Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA) ss 104, 105, 106(h)).

You cannot run both claims about the same dismissal at once.

1. A person who has been dismissed must not make one kind of application if another of the listed kinds applies (FW Act s 725).
2. A general protections application under s 365 that has not been withdrawn or failed for want of jurisdiction, and has not resulted in a certificate, blocks an unfair dismissal application (s 727).

Filing the other claim first does not stop the 21 days for an unfair dismissal claim running. A Victorian paramedic dismissed under that State's vaccination directions deliberately chose to file a general protections application first, with some legal advice, and applied for unfair dismissal late. The Full Bench said a change of claim is a common reason for delay, but found no error in refusing more time in her case, and refused permission to appeal (Jessica Davis v Ambulance Victoria [2022] FWCFB 131 at [16]–[18], [27]–[28]).

1. Discrimination.
   1. The Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA) applies to St John (FW Act s 27(1A)(d)).
   2. It covers, among other grounds, sex and sexual harassment, impairment (with an exception where a person "would be unable to carry out work reasonably required"), age and family responsibility or family status (EO Act ss 11, 24, 35B, 66B, 66Q, 66W).
   3. A complaint is due within 12 months, or later on good cause (s 83(4)–(5)).
   4. The federal discrimination Acts also apply, and the FW Act's protected-attribute ground (s 351) is an alternative.
2. Enforcing the agreement.
   1. A dispute under the agreement about something other than discipline or termination, for example pay or leave, goes through cl 11.
   2. A dispute first raised after the employment has ended is outside the FWC's dispute jurisdiction: an application by a former St John employee who had worked under the earlier communications officers' agreement (the 2017 agreement) was dismissed on that ground (Rebekah Isaacs v St John Ambulance WA [2022] FWC 1508 at [7]–[8]).
3. Injury. A dismissal of a worker on workers' compensation is restricted for 12 months from the first incapacity (see workload, safety and injury).

A clinical incident can lead to two separate processes:

1. St John's own process, under cl 14 and its policies. Clause 14 ties clinical performance to misconduct through two examples: "Serious failures to apply due care and skill to your role may amount to misconduct" (cl 14.2(b)), and "Failing to exercise due care in the performance of your role to the expected standard" (cl 14.4(a)(vi)). The agreement sets no clinical review or open disclosure process.
2. The National Law process, run by the Paramedicine Board of Australia through Ahpra, with the SAT as the tribunal in WA.

The two have different tests, different decision-makers and different outcomes. One does not wait for the other.

Paramedicine is a registered health profession under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (Western Australia) (s 5, "health profession", para (ja)). The participation day was 1 December 2018 (Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Regulation (WA) r 41), and "paramedic" is a protected title (National Law s 113).

Ambulance officers, patient transport officers and communications staff who are not registered paramedics are not subject to the National Law.

Since 15 May 2024 WA has applied the National Law with WA modifications through the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Application Act 2024 (WA), and the SAT is the responsible tribunal (s 19).

1. "Notifiable conduct" means (National Law s 140):
   1. practising while intoxicated by alcohol or drugs;
   2. sexual misconduct in connection with practice;
   3. placing the public at risk of substantial harm because of an impairment;
   4. placing the public at risk of harm by practising "in a way that constitutes a significant departure from accepted professional standards".
2. An employer that reasonably believes a registered practitioner it employs has behaved in a way that constitutes notifiable conduct "must notify" Ahpra (s 142(1)). St John is bound by this like any employer. Other practitioners have a similar duty (s 141), and anyone may make a voluntary notification (s 144).
3. In WA a practitioner who forms the belief "in the course of providing health services to" another practitioner has no mandatory duty to notify (s 141(4)(ca), inserted by the Application Act). So a paramedic's own treating doctor or psychiatrist is not under a mandatory duty to report what they learn in treatment. A voluntary notification remains possible.
4. The agreement pays you as if you had worked when you are required to give evidence or take part in an Ahpra enquiry or matter, unless a St John investigation has made findings of misconduct relating to it (cl 40.17).

1. The Board may take immediate action if it reasonably believes that, because of the practitioner's health, conduct or performance, the practitioner poses a serious risk to persons and action is necessary to protect public health or safety, or that action is "otherwise in the public interest" (National Law s 156(1)(a), (e)). The Act's example of the public interest ground is a practitioner charged with a serious criminal offence unrelated to practice (s 156(1), example).
2. Immediate action includes suspension, conditions on registration, accepting an undertaking and accepting surrender of registration (s 155).
3. Before suspending or imposing conditions, the Board must give notice of the proposed action and invite a submission within the time stated in the notice, and must have regard to any submission made (s 157). The notice and the submission may be written or verbal (s 157(2)).
4. After deciding, the Board must give written notice stating the action, the reasons, the further action it proposes, that an appeal lies if the action suspends or imposes conditions, and how and within what period to appeal (s 158(2)).
5. Where the Board reasonably believes a practitioner has behaved in a way that constitutes professional misconduct, it must refer the matter to the SAT, subject to s 193A; the SAT has the powers in s 196 (ss 193, 196). Appeals against appellable decisions lie under s 199.

A registered paramedic may administer Schedule 4 and 8 medicines only on a prescriber's direction under r 15(1) or under an applicable structured administration and supply arrangement, may supply them only under such an arrangement, and may possess them only for those purposes (Medicines and Poisons Regulations 2016 (WA) rr 61–62).

The Department of Health's chief executive may impose conditions on, suspend or cancel a professional's authority for, among other things, acting "carelessly, incompetently or improperly" (Medicines and Poisons Act 2014 (WA) ss 28–29), and the decision is reviewable by the SAT (s 33).

So one event, such as a drug discrepancy or a medication error, can run at the same time as St John discipline, an Ahpra notification with possible immediate action, Medicines and Poisons Act action and, in some cases, a prosecution. Each has its own standard and forum.