Robino & Ors and Townsville District Health Service (Department of Health)
(1996 S0119, 4 March 1998)
Following concessions made during the course of this review, the issue which remained for formal decision was whether the applicants, who were the complainants in a formal workplace grievance procedure, were entitled to obtain access to parts of the report prepared by the grievance investigators which contained information supplied by the subject of the grievance complaint.
The subject of the grievance argued that the matter in issue was exempt under s.40(c), s.40(d), 44(1), s.46(1)(a) and s.46(1)(b) of the FOI Act. The Information Commissioner held that the matter in issue could not have been supplied by the subject of the grievance, to the investigators, on the basis of an implicit mutual understanding that it would be treated in confidence as against the complainants.
The Information Commissioner also held that the information in issue concerned employment affairs rather than personal affairs, and hence did not qualify for exemption under s.44(1) of the FOI Act. The Information Commissioner also dismissed claims for exemption under s.40(c) and s.40(d) which were made by the subject of the complaint, but not supported by the respondent agency.
