A Federal government department acted reasonably in dismissing an employee who secretly recorded conversations with colleagues and required daily management from five different executives during an 18-month absence from work, the FWC has ruled.
The FWC has confirmed the right of employers in safety-critical industries to dismiss workers whose out-of-hours conduct impairs the safe performance of their duties, in the case of a flight attendant who called in sick during a layover after being hospitalised with a blood-alcohol reading of .205.
In a significant decision on out-of-hours conduct, the FWC has ruled that ALDI justifiably dismissed a storeperson for throwing a full beer glass over the heads of colleagues at an official company Christmas party.
Dismissing an employee for providing false and misleading information during the recruitment process was not unfair, despite procedural failings by his employer, a tribunal has ruled.
The FWC has rejected a dismissed employee's contention that a company's duty of care extended to anticipating that he would act in a violent and threatening manner towards a co-worker.
The pitfalls of self-representation have been highlighted by an FWC full bench that found it would be "futile" to hear a former chief executive's anti-bullying case because his notice of appeal "expressly" indicated he was seeking an unnecessary order.
The FWC has upheld Toyota's sacking of a supervisor for improperly exercising his power, finding his "benevolent sexism" and inappropriate behaviour towards a group of young, female fixed-term contractors created a weird, dirty and unhealthy environment.
The FWC has found "justified, proportionate and fair" the summary sacking of a health worker whose duties included running a men's group that addressed issues including domestic violence, after police arrested and charged him with assaulting his partner.
The FWC has extended time for a BHP joint venture mineworker to lodge a general protections claim challenging his sacking over a failed drug test, but has agreed there is "great weight" to the employer's view that it is essentially an unfair dismissal application in disguise.
Two Esso Australia union delegates have failed to convince the FWC that their summary dismissals for isolating and abusing workers who accepted lower-paying contracts were unfair or in breach of the company's disciplinary policy.
