The application was dismissed in its entirety; no pecuniary penalty was imposed for the Enterprise Agreement breach regarding bereavement leave, and the respondent's undertaking not to progress the Code of Conduct process was extended briefly. On the facts, none of the five pleaded adverse actions (three performance appraisals, direction to attend an IME, and placement on miscellaneous leave with pay) constituted adverse actions within s 342(1) of the Fair Work Act because none resulted in real and substantial prejudicial alteration to the applicant's position. A direction to attend an IME pursuant to reg 11 of the Public Service Regulations 2023 was held to be a lawful and reasonable direction, not an adverse action, where the employer had statutory WHS obligations. Although a breach of the Enterprise Agreement's bereavement leave clause was established, the Court declined to impose a pecuniary penalty under s 546 where the breach was an inadvertent one-off error by the HR team with no evidence of deliberate or reckless conduct.
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