(a) an employer who dismisses an employee,
injures an employee in the employment of the employer or alters the position
of an employee to the employee's detriment; and
(b) an employer who threatens
to do any of those things to an employee; and
(c) an employer or prospective
employer who refuses or fails to offer employment to a prospective employee,
or treats a prospective employee less favourably than another prospective
employee would be treated in offering terms of employment.
(2) The employer
or prospective employer is guilty of an offence if the employer or prospective
employer engaged in that conduct because the employee or prospective employee
(as the case may be)--
(a) has assisted or has given any information to a
public agency in respect of a breach or alleged breach of an Australian rail
safety law; or
(b) has made a complaint about a breach or alleged breach of
an Australian rail safety law to the employer, a fellow employee, union,
public authority or public official; or
(c) assists or has assisted, or gives
or has given any information to, a public agency in respect of a breach or
alleged breach of an Australian rail safety law; or
(d) has made a complaint
about a breach or alleged breach of an Australian rail safety law to a former
employer, former fellow employee, union, public authority or public official.
: Maximum penalty--
(a) in the case of an individual--$10 000;
(b) in the
case of a body corporate--$50 000.
(3) An employer or prospective employer
may be guilty of an offence against subsection (2) only if the reason
mentioned in subsection (2)(a), (b), (c) or (d) is the dominant reason why the
employer or prospective employer engaged in the conduct.
(4) In proceedings
for an offence against subsection (2), if all the facts constituting the
offence other than the reason for the defendant's conduct are proved, the
defendant bears the onus of proving that the reason alleged in the charge was
not the dominant reason why the defendant engaged in the conduct.
(5) If an
employer or prospective employer is convicted or found guilty of an offence
against this section, the court may (in addition to imposing a penalty) make
either or both of the following orders--
(a) an order that the offender pay
(within a specified period) such damages to the employee or prospective
employee against whom the offender discriminated as the court considers
appropriate to compensate him or her;
(b) an order that--
(i) the employee be
reinstated or re-employed in his or her former position or, if that position
is not available, in a similar position; or
(ii) the prospective employee be
employed in the position for which he or she had applied or a similar
position.
(6) In this section--
"employee" includes an individual who works under a contract for service;
"public authority" includes ONRSR, the Regulator, a rail safety officer or
police officer, and a police officer of another jurisdiction.