Managing employee misconduct, performance issues and disciplinary action is increasingly complex, high‑stakes work for councils.
Decisions can engage obligations under the Industrial Relations Act 2016 (Qld), Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld), Local Government Act 2009 (Qld), Local Government Regulation 2012 (Qld), the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) and the Managing the Risk of Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice 2022.
Most councils understand their legal obligations. The real challenge is making sure those obligations actually flow through to everyday disciplinary processes and documents.
Even where concerns about an employee are well-founded, procedural mistakes can undermine an otherwise sound decision. We are increasingly seeing councils devote significant time and resources to defending decisions that were substantively sound, but weakened by avoidable procedural missteps or gaps in documentation.
Where councils are feeling the pressure
We regularly assist councils with employee conduct matters where documentation is just as important as the underlying issue. In practice, the quality of your documentation often determines whether a disciplinary decision survives scrutiny.
Common challenges include:
- disciplinary correspondence which fails to clearly identify the allegations or relevant standards;
- procedural fairness that varies significantly across investigations and disciplinary processes;
- insufficient consideration of human rights or workplace health and safety obligations;
- documentation that has evolved over time without keeping pace with legislative change; and
- inconsistent approaches across different business units or decision-makers.
These challenges rarely reflect poor judgment. They arise because managers and HR practitioners are relying on outdated templates or adapting previous correspondence for new circumstances. As legislative obligations continue to expand, that approach becomes increasingly risky and difficult to sustain.
Why templates matter
Well-designed templates do far more than save time – they can determine whether your disciplinary process stands up under scrutiny.
They provide a consistent framework for managing employee conduct, helping councils incorporate key legislative requirements into their day-to-day processes while reducing the risk of overlooking important procedural steps.
Good templates also improve delegation. Instead of relying on a small number of experienced practitioners to draft complex correspondence from scratch, councils can equip HR teams and managers with practical, legally informed documents that promote consistency and confidence across the organisation.
Importantly, templates do not replace legal advice or professional judgment. They provide a strong starting point that helps councils manage routine matters and help identify situations where additional legal input is needed.
When disciplinary documents are tested: Satterly v Brisbane City Council
Satterly v Brisbane City Council [2025] QIRC 97 shows how quickly disciplinary documents can become central in litigation. A long‑serving bus operator challenged his dismissal as harsh, unjust or unreasonable. The Commission ultimately upheld Council’s decision – but not before closely examining the disciplinary process.
Council made findings that for each of the six allegations, the employee had engaged in misconduct, including failing to follow safety and operational directions while driving a bus, inappropriate behaviour towards colleagues, and obscene and threatening written statements about Council officers. The Commission reviewed the CCTV, audio recordings, and the relevant policies and Code of Conduct to assess whether the misconduct was substantiated and sufficiently serious to justify dismissal.
The Council’s letters setting out allegations and reasons for dismissal anchored its defence. The Commission asked familiar questions: was the employee clearly told the reasons for dismissal, was the misconduct made out, was the response proportionate, and was the employee given a real opportunity to respond? It answered each in the Council’s favour and dismissed the reinstatement application.
The employee also raised mental health arguments. The employee pointed to his long‑running psychiatric injury, ongoing treatment and a workers’ compensation claim arising out of the same period, and alleged that he had been unfairly targeted because of his mental illness. The Commission was ultimately not persuaded that the misconduct was caused by a psychiatric injury, in part because medical evidence and prior fitness‑for‑work assessments did not establish a causal link between specific episodes of misconduct and his illness. But the reasons also reveal how the disciplinary framework allowed the process to proceed largely on a “conduct only” footing, with limited integration of the employee’s mental health history into the factual and evaluative analysis of the allegations.
Investing in prevention
Like any risk management strategy, investing upfront often avoids much greater costs later. High‑quality disciplinary templates reduce drafting time, improve consistency, strengthen procedural fairness and minimise the risk of decisions being successfully challenged on avoidable procedural grounds.
They also provide confidence to managers who may only deal with formal disciplinary processes occasionally, while helping councils demonstrate a structured and legally compliant approach to managing employee conduct.
McCullough Robertson has assisted councils across Queensland to review, modernise and develop disciplinary document suites tailored to the local government landscape. We draw on our experience when we update templates to reflect how disciplinary processes actually play out in council workplaces. while remaining flexible enough to accommodate the unique circumstances of each matter.
By investing in robust template documents, councils can improve consistency, strengthen decision-making and reduce the time and cost associated with managing employee conduct issues.
If your council hasn’t reviewed its disciplinary templates recently, treat that as a risk indicator. Now is the time to update them before your next difficult conduct decision tests how fit-for-purpose they really are. Reach out to our Employment Relations and Safety team for further guidance.