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Dismissing workers who are convicted of a criminal offence sometimes imposes an unfair "second tier of justice" and effectively makes employers "part of the punitive apparatus", argues a new research paper.

The detailed review of dismissal cases involving employees charged with or convicted of criminal offences was led by Sydney Law School associate professor, Dr Sandra Noakes. She says that to date, courts and tribunals have taken an inconsistent approach to non-work-related criminal charges.

Most legal and social research has focused on the discriminatory impact of disclosing criminal records at the recruitment stage, rather than on dismissing existing employees, the paper notes.

It points out that under employment laws, employees have a right to a personal life, and that an employee's behaviour outside of work should not have ramifications for them at work, unless the behaviour has a direct relationship to their employment...