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Dismissal wasn't a disproportionate response to an employee's use of work emails, given she'd received numerous warnings about her inappropriate messages, a commission has found.

The employee argued a lesser penalty (such as a transfer or temporary pay cut) would have been appropriate, but Western Australian Industrial Relations Commissioner Toni Walkington disagreed, highlighting the "gravity and persistence" of her conduct, and that her language was objectively offensive.

The WA Department of Justice sacked the prison officer for misconduct in February last year, finding she'd used her work email account to send confidential information without authorisation, and to make discriminatory, offensive and derogatory remarks about her coworkers and others.

The employee sought a review of the decision, but the employer maintained it wasn't unfair, harsh or oppressive....