WA police officers. Your office, your rights and your time limits.

1. The rule. A removed officer works to 28 days from removal, not from the notice of decision (s 33P(3)).
2. Extension. The 28 days under s 33P(3) probably cannot be extended, and no decision settles it. One member of a three-member bench has said the limit cannot be extended and the other two did not need to decide ([2009] WAIRC 00514 at [21], [28], [32], [38]), and a later bench leaned the same way without deciding it ([2012] WAIRC 00112 at [16], [19]). The argument the other way is that the s 33S Table applies IR Act s 27(1)(n) to these appeals.
3. Medical retirement. The same caution applies to s 33ZI(4)(a), on which no decision was found.
4. Lodging. Three copies of the notice of appeal in the approved form are filed in the office of the Registrar, who then serves the Commissioner of Police (Industrial Relations Commission Regulations 2005 (WA) rr 90, 91A). Under those Regulations:
   1. a document is received on a particular day "if it is lodged electronically at any time on that day up to and including midnight" (r 6(3));
   2. a document lodged electronically on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday is taken to be received on "the next day when the office of the Registrar opens to the public for the transaction of business" (r 6(3A));
   3. a document sent by email must comply with r 5(2) (r 5(2), (6));
   4. other lodgment stays within opening hours (r 4(2)).
5. In practice. Working to a date before the 28th day avoids these questions, particularly where the 28th day falls near a weekend or public holiday.

At common law a sworn officer holds an office. The WA Court of Appeal: "absent a statutory provision to the contrary, members of a police force are not employed under a contract of employment; they are, instead, independent office holders exercising original authority in the execution of their duties" (Falconer v Commissioner of Police [No 2] [2024] WASCA 47 at [44]). The High Court has said the same of NSW officers (Cottle [2022] HCA 7 at [9]). The root authority is Enever v The King [1906] HCA 3.

WA statutes then change that for particular purposes, one Act at a time:

1. the IR Act applies "as if" the officer were a government officer and the Commissioner of Police the employer (Sch 3 cl 2(2));
2. the Minimum Conditions of Employment Act 1993 (WA) applies "as if" the officer were an employee (s 6A);
3. the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA) includes a member of the Police Force as a State employee (s 4(1)), with the Commissioner of Police as employer (s 163(2));
4. the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA) (WHS Act) makes a police officer "a worker of WA Police" while on duty (s 7(2)).

Being deemed for one Act does not carry to another. The agreements' words "Employee" and "Employer" (Police Agreement cl 6.16, 6.17) are the instrument's words, and do not settle status.

The Police Agreement has three dated rises, on 1 July 2024, 2025 and 2026, at 5%, 4% and 3.75% (the last computed from the table, cl 10.1). The Police Auxiliary Officers Agreement has its own: 2 November 2024, 2025 and 2026 at 5%, 4% and 3.5% (cl 14.1). Each date in those lists has now passed, and neither agreement prints a later rise.

Every other rate, allowances, hours, leave and rest days are on Your agreements and pay.

A member who breaches the Regulations "commits an offence against the discipline of the Force" (r 1601). After an examination under s 23 the Commissioner of Police or appointed officer may caution, or by written order impose one or more punishments, from a reprimand through a fine of up to 3% of annual base pay, demotion, salary reduction and suspension to discharge, dismissal or cancellation of appointment (s 23(4)). An appeal lies to the Police Appeal Board for the punishments listed in s 33E. A reprimand or caution is not listed, and salary reduction is not listed in terms.

The Board is a magistrate as Chairman, a person appointed by the Commissioner of Police and an elected member of the Force (s 33B(2)). Its decision "is final" (s 33H(1A)), and it must award costs against an appellant whose appeal it considers trivial, frivolous or vexatious (s 33H(1B)).

The WAIRC stays out. It must not regulate discipline where another Act provides for it and for an appeal (IR Act s 23(3)(d)). It has applied that to orders about threatened discipline, even though no process had begun, and has held that Sch 3 cl 2(3) does not lead to police being treated differently ([2026] WAIRC 00789 at [49], [53]). The Police Agreement has no discipline clause, and nothing should be inferred from that silence. The detail is on Discipline, removal and appeals.

This is neither discipline nor unfair dismissal. The steps:

1. a written notice giving the grounds and the particular conduct (s 33L(1); Regulations r 6A05(1));
2. your written submissions, within 21 days or any longer period allowed (s 33L(2));
3. the decision, with notice and reasons within 7 days of the decision to take removal action (s 33L(3), (5)(a); Regulations r 6A09(1));
4. copies of the documents relied on, within 7 days of that notice, except as the Regulations provide (s 33L(5)(b); r 6A09(2));
5. removal action, when or at any time after that notice (s 33L(5)(c)).

Pay must not be suspended while your suitability is being considered (r 6A12). After removal there is a maintenance payment for 28 days, and up to 6 months more only if the Minister so directs in exceptional circumstances (s 33M). A charge, proceedings or an acquittal does not preclude action under Part IIB (s 33W).

On appeal the ground is that the decision "was harsh, oppressive or unfair" (s 33P(1)). The burden is on the appellant at all times (s 33Q(2), (3)), and the Commission must have regard to the public interest as well as the appellant's interests (s 33Q(4)). No costs are ordered for the services of a legal practitioner or agent, on IR Act s 27(1)(c) as applied by the s 33S Table.

The Commissioner of Police may, with the Minister's approval, remove a member on probation on the opinion that the member "will not give satisfactory service" (Regulations r 505A(2)). Section 33L does not condition that power (s 8(4)), and s 33P is open only to a member removed under s 33L. So on the text there is no appeal, and the IR Act route is closed by Sch 3 cl 2(3). One Commissioner said the same in 2005 ([2005] WAIRC 01496 at [30]–[32]). Probation under the Police Auxiliary Officers Agreement for auxiliary officers is nine months (cl 13.1), and is a different thing.

Sworn officers and liaison officers are not workers under the WCIM Act: "An individual appointed as a police officer or an Aboriginal police liaison officer is not a worker unless the police officer or Aboriginal police liaison officer dies as a result of an injury" (WCIM Regulations r 16(2)). There is no weekly payment scheme and no lump sum while serving. Instead:

1. paid leave is a discretion: the Commissioner of Police "may grant" leave with pay for up to 168 days in a calendar year, and a further period if recommended (Regulations r 1304(1); Police Agreement cl 38.5);
2. work-related medical and hospital expenses are a duty: the Commissioner of Police "shall pay" the reasonable expenses (r 1306; Police Agreement cl 41.1);
3. neither applies to illness or injury through your own "fault or misconduct" (r 1308; Police Agreement cl 38.8).

Auxiliary officers are on the other side of the line. Rule 16 does not catch them, and they are probably workers under WCIM Act s 12(2)(a). No decision settles it. In short:

1. the rule names the liaison officer separately and leaves the auxiliary officer out, and a 2009 amendment redrew the exclusion so that workers' compensation would apply to auxiliary officers;
2. the remaining step, whether a s 38G appointment is a contract of service, rests on reasoning in a rules decision about another Act ([2011] WAIRC 00786 at [228]–[235]);
3. The Police Auxiliary Officers Agreement itself refers to the WCIM Act (cl 36.17).

Since 30 November 2019, "members who are medically unfit can be retired specifically on medical grounds (rather than being removed under Part IIB)" (Police Act s 33ZA). Part IIC applies to sworn, liaison and auxiliary officers (s 33ZB). It starts with a medical board (s 33ZC), then a notice and 28 days or longer for submissions (s 33ZD(3), (4)), then a decision with reasons (s 33ZE).

Lump-sum compensation under Part 2D is narrower:

1. it is only for a medically retired sworn or liaison officer, retired on or after 1 January 2022, with a compensable medical condition, whose appeal did not end in reinstatement (s 33ZU(1));
2. an auxiliary officer is outside it (s 33ZS(1)), and so is a serving officer or one who was removed or resigned;
3. resigning under s 33ZH cancels it (s 33ZU(2));
4. permanent impairment compensation requires a personal injury by accident (s 33ZW(3)(c)), so as the Act stands a psychological injury that is a disease cannot found that one payment, though it may still bring the others.

After leaving, the 2008 Act makes the Commissioner of Police liable for medical and other expenses from an injury, for former police officers and liaison officers, whether or not they were medically retired (s 3(1), s 4(1)). The detail is on Injury, medical retirement and compensation.

The Police Amendment (Compensation Scheme) Bill 2025 would change Part 2D. As at 7 November 2026 it is at second reading in the Legislative Council. It is not law, and there is no post-traumatic stress disorder presumption in force.

1. Ordinary industrial matters go to the WAIRC. An industrial matter relating to a government officer is within the general jurisdiction (IR Act s 36AA(2)(a)), the union may refer a matter (s 29(1)(a)(ii)), and the Police Agreement's dispute clause ends with a referral by either party (cl 8.3 to 8.6).
2. Bullying and sexual harassment. The WAIRC route applies, because "A police officer is" a worker of WA Police for that purpose (IR Act s 51BH(2)).
3. Discrimination. The Equal Opportunity Act covers members of the Police Force as State employees (s 4(1), s 163(2)).
4. Safety. The WHS Act applies while on duty (s 7(2)), with targeted limits for covert and dangerous operations (ss 84(2), 85(7)).
5. Bargaining is under the IR Act. How it works, the wages policy, the regulations that bear on industrial action and the next round are on Bargaining, and what is happening now.