The FWC has upheld the sacking of a long-serving handyman for serious misconduct that included continually touching a young receptionist, finding it was "understandable" given their age difference that she did not feel able to tell him to stop.
In the wake of the public spotlight on the Qantas "inclusive language" guidelines, one of its baggage handlers has failed to convince the FWC that tearing a colleague's shirt, shoving him against a locker and telling him to f-ck off back to his country were not sackable offences but rather a bit of "argy bargy" between friends, consistent with the workplace culture.
An FWC full bench led by President Iain Ross has sent a powerful signal to members to back their own judgement in inherent requirements cases where there is conflicting medical evidence, describing a previous full bench decision ceding the final say to employers as "plainly wrong".
In an important ruling on out-of-hours conduct, the FWC has found that an employer didn't need to receive a complaint before investigating then sacking a worker for sharing a p--nographic video via social media with friends who included 19 male and female work colleagues.
On the heels of this week's rejection of a United Voice and AEU equal pay bid for childcare workers, the IEU on Monday heads to the FWC to press its separate claim on behalf of 12,000 university-qualified teachers employed in long day care centres and preschools.
The FWC has cleared the way for a veteran's advocate to bring a bullying claim against RSL Queensland and 14 of its directors, after establishing that his volunteer services for one of its 240 sub-branches was in fact work performed for the constitutionally-covered state organisation.
An FWC full bench has today thrown out a United Voice and AEU equal pay claim for childcare workers after finding a 2005 work value case was insufficient, in the absence of contemporary evidence, to establish metalworkers as an appropriate comparator.
An FWC full bench has upbraided a tribunal member for suppressing the name of a sexual harassment complainant without proper consultation, but has upheld the sacking of a manager for the "hostile" and "derogatory" comments he directed at the trainee.
The Federal Circuit Court has rejected the adverse action claim of an obese security officer who accused his employer of unfairly targeting him, transferring him to a position he physically could not perform in another city and then sacking him because he challenged a proposed enterprise agreement.
The FWC has found a Coles Supermarkets baker who texted explicit images to a manager who responded "great d--k pic" did not sexually harass him as he appeared to initially take them as "a joke", but the tribunal has upheld his dismissal as his behaviour breached the retailer's code of conduct.
