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The "optics" would be poor if an employer retained a senior employee who was convicted of domestic violence, a commission has found in rejecting his unfair dismissal appeal.

The employer didn't act "harshly or oppressively" when it refused to consider alternatives to dismissal, particularly given the employee's integrity-based role and lack of remorse for his conduct, the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission found.

In September last year, the Public Sector Commission senior consultant was sentenced to 12 months' jail, suspended for 18 months, after a jury convicted him of aggravated common assault. The offence related to the "non-fatal strangulation" of his former wife, which occurred in front of their children.

During sentencing, the District Court judge said the employee's conduct was "an abuse of trust", noting this type of offending happened "far too frequently" and was "a scourge on society"...