In what stands as a tribute to the qualities the FWC looks for in employers' legal representatives, an experienced tribunal member has praised a senior associate for "a masterclass in the art of advocacy" that avoided bamboozling or belittling an unrepresented bus driver.
The FWC has upheld a company's claim that despite its two principals physically assaulting a worker and engaging in angry exchanges with him, it did not sack him.
An FWC majority finding that an Uber delivery driver could not bring an unfair dismissal claim as she was an independent contractor highlights a need for legislative intervention to recognise that many gig workers are employees, says a leading employment law academic.
A senior manager on a $240,000 annual remuneration package has failed to convince the FWC he is an award-covered employee protected from unfair dismissal.
A worker sacked over performance and conduct issues has failed to establish a connection with his mental disability or that his employer took adverse action on the basis of his bullying complaints.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a hospital operating theatre cleaner who spent 44% of his working time, excluding breaks, in a tea room, but has scolded the employer for its "faintly ridiculous" arguments against allowing him to "meticuously review" damning CCTV footage.
A Jehovah's Witness's ineptitude and expectation he should be treated "deferentially" at work, rather than any religious discrimination, resulted in his dismissal from a labouring job after seven weeks, a court has found.
A major gas supplier has been ordered to reinstate a left-handed worker whose primary duties involved lifting five-kilogram cylinders, after basing his dismissal on an assessment that right shoulder and neck pain meant he could lift no more than 20kgs.
In a decision clarifying how the FWC deals with unresolved matters in which the applicant has died, the tribunal has wound up a 20-month-old unfair dismissal case after determining that only executors of a claimant's estate can discontinue it.
A tribunal has upheld the dismissal of a marijuana-smoking prison officer, while noting the potential for "mischief" in the suggestion that her proclivity could produce an unconscious bias in assessing inmates.
