Victorian Numbered Acts

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT 2004 (NO 107 OF 2004) - SECT 76

    (1)     This section applies to—

        (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 indictable offence if the employer or prospective employer engaged in that conduct because the employee or prospective employee (as the case may be)—

        (a)     is or has been a health and safety representative or a member of a health and safety committee; or

        (b)     exercises or has exercised a power as a health and safety representative or as a member of a health and safety committee; or

        (c)     assists or has assisted, or gives or has given any information to, an inspector, a health and safety representative or a member of a health and safety committee; or

        (d)     raises or has raised an issue or concern about health or safety to the employer, an inspector, a health and safety representative, a member of a health and safety committee or an employee of the employer.

    Note 1:     The effect of section 57(2)(b) is that a reference to a health and safety representative includes a reference to a deputy health and safety representative.

    Note 2:     The offence may be heard and determined summarily (see section 53 of, and Schedule 4 to, the Magistrates' Court Act 1989 ).

    (3)     An employer or prospective employer may be guilty of an offence against sub-section (2) only if the reason mentioned in sub-section (2)(a), (b), (c) or (d) is the dominant reason why the employer or prospective employer engaged in the conduct.

    (4)     An employer or prospective employer who is guilty of an offence against sub-section (2) is liable to—

        (a)     in the case of a natural person, a term of imprisonment not exceeding 6 months, or a fine not exceeding 500 penalty units, or both; and

        (b)     in the case of a body corporate, a fine not exceeding 2500 penalty units.