In what a union has hailed as a victory for a commonsense approach to mobile phone use, a tribunal has reinstated a bus driver sacked for making two calls while parked with the doors open and the vehicle's dual braking system engaged.
A trucking company had a valid reason to sack a driver for speeding in his B-Double, but informing him by phone was "unnecessarily callous", the FWC has found.
An FWC member has lashed BHP for its "astounding" failure to properly apply its 'fair play' policies when it sacked a mineworker for telling two female colleagues a crude joke.
The FWC has upheld Star Casino's sacking of a food and beverage server who said he tapped a colleague's bottom in an act of comradery, accused three workmates of entrapping him and threatened to "raise hell" for his employer.
In a significant decision on duty of care, a former public prosecutor and mother of two traumatised by having to prepare a large volume of child sexual offence cases has been awarded more than $400,000 in damages.
The FWC has reinstated a rail worker sacked for coming to work the day after he smoked his first joint in 30 years and has taken Sydney Trains to task over its purported zero tolerance for drugs.
The NSW IRC has considered the dividing line between misconduct and performance issues in cutting short the demotion of an assistant principal accused of hugging and professing her love for students, giving gifts and laughing when one of them threw paint over a colleague.
A CommSec manager sacked for breaching 'Banking 101' procedures has been denied a second hearing of her unfair dismissal claim on appeal grounds declared "trivial and spurious" by an FWC full bench.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a Sydney Harbour ferry master who fell asleep while in control of his vessel after taking an over-the-counter cough mixture.
A gym must compensate a martial arts instructor for taking the "unnecessarily harsh" step of summarily sacking him, despite the FWC finding it within its rights to give him his marching orders for constantly using his phone while supervising classes.
