A university and its HR department embroiled in accusations of bullying between law school academics have been granted the right to engage lawyers to defend the claims.
The FWC has refused an employer's application to recoup its costs of defending an unfair dismissal claiming, noting the employer incurred its "unreasonable" $10,000-plus bill because its chose a law firm that provided a "Rolls Royce service".
The FWC has issued an interim order to restrain an employer from disciplining an executive for alleged misconduct until the tribunal determines her anti-bullying application.
The FWC has rejected a casual employee's bid for anti-bullying orders, despite finding that her employer had acted unreasonably by issuing a written warning 11 months after initiating the first of two contradictory investigations into alleged misconduct.
March 15 has been set down for a potentially explosive hearing in Queensland's Supreme Court as IRC presidential member Dianne Linnane seeks to have a state government investigation into her alleged bullying of colleagues declared unlawful.
A court has awarded more than $600,000 in damages to a state government employee with known mental health issues who suffered a "breakdown" after managers failed to properly consider her condition when they addressed a mounting conflict with a supervisor.
The FWC has upheld a disability support association's dismissal of a carer whose psychological injuries meant she could not fulfil the inherent requirements of her job, but has criticised the "regrettable" response by the employer's HR department to her bullying allegations.
A tribunal has ordered an employer to allow the CFMEU entry to a major freeway construction site to investigate suspected breaches of OHS laws amid claims of threats directed towards its "stressed and anxious" members.
The FWC has upheld DP World's sacking of a stevedore and self-proclaimed "big fish" in the MUA for bullying two colleagues who stepped outside a worker-maintained "system of control and internal discipline" by taking a complaint to HR.
Almost one-in-10 Australian workers now experience bullying, according to a report released this week, with those employed in the utilities and government administration and defence industries suffering among the highest levels of harassment.
