Correctional Services department imposed ‘harsh, unjust’ penalty against Darryl Winter for calling director a ‘prick’

A corrections officer who worked in a “toxic and divided” unit was sanctioned for allegedly calling a director a “p***k” – but a tribunal says the decision was “harsh”.

A decision to sanction and transfer a corrections officer for referring to a director as a “prick” was “harsh, unjust and unreasonable”, while the unit he worked in was “toxic and divided”, a tribunal has ruled.

Corrections officer Darryl Winter was employed by the Department of Correctional Services as an intensive compliance officer in the intensive compliance unit when he was advised four allegations of misconduct were made against him in October 2021.

One of the allegations was not pursued by the department while the other three – which alleged Mr Winter referred to colleagues using derogatory and offensive terms on three occasions between 2018 and 2020 – were pursued by the department, which also proposed sanctions.

Mr Winter sought a review by the SA Employment Tribunal which, in a ruling delivered last August, dismissed the allegations and found the department’s decision “harsh, unjust and unreasonable”.

The department then pursued a single allegation of misconduct, from 2018, in which it was alleged Mr Winter had referred to a regional director as a “prick” in the presence of a colleague.

Mr Winter had denied the allegation and told the tribunal the unit he worked in was “like the Wild West”.

The department imposed sanctions including transferring Mr Winter to a role as a community corrections officer.

The matter was again referred to the SA Employment Tribunal which again found the department’s decision to sanction Mr Winter “harsh, unjust and unreasonable”.

SAET deputy president Judge Mark Calligeros said the alleged behaviour “did not warrant the action taken” and was an “unreasonable exercise of power”.

“Much worse behaviours in the (unit) were tolerated or ignored,” he said.

He said the department had been “searching for a reason to move Mr Winter out of the unit rather than having a genuine concern” about his alleged behaviour.

Mr Calligeros found “derogatory and offensive language was commonly used in the intensive compliance unit”.

He said incident reports included allegations another staff member called Mr Winter a “f**khead, a c**t and a f**king c**t”, but a complaint was not pursued by the department because it was more than a year old.

“The evidence suggests, and I find, that the (intensive compliance unit) was a toxic and divided workplace when Mr Winter worked there,” Mr Calligeros said.

He said “behaviours that should not be accepted in any workplace occurred in the (unit)”.

“Employees were threatened and intimidated verbally and physically. Aggressive and abusive language was commonly used,” he said.

Mr Calligeros noted there had been multiple staffing changes in the unit and behaviour had since improved. He said Mr Winter was “working happily and productively” in his new role.

He did not order the sanctions be rescinded but instead ordered the department and Mr Winter participate in a settlement conference and formal mediation.

Originally published as Correctional Services department imposed ‘harsh, unjust’ penalty against Darryl Winter for calling director a ‘prick’