In a significant, if split, decision on the FWC's jurisdictional ambit, a majority full Federal Court has ruled that the tribunal would not be invalidly exercising judicial power if it arbitrated a dispute under an agreement an employer inherited after winning a Defence Department tender.
The FWC has lambasted an employer over the "unconscionable" sacking of a casual who said he was just joking about making a workers' compensation claim after a COVID-19 related standdown, ordering compensation equal to 24 weeks of JobKeeper.
In a decision meticulously examining notions of bias, a FWC presidential member has declined to recuse himself at the same time as taking a swing at a lawyer arguing he breached a "golden rule" by privately communicating with a party seeking anti-bullying orders.
The FWC has made a rare costs order against an unfair dismissal applicant who filed her case while unsure if she had in fact quit in the heat of the moment, before discontinuing it less than 24 hours before the hearing.
Unions say Uber's failure to convince the UK's Supreme Court that its drivers are independent contractors or that their working time only includes periods carrying passengers is set to be "very persuasive" in the Australian context.
A retiring presidential FWC member has used his final ruling to deliver a withering character assessment of a law graduate and question the benefit of GPs providing mental health appraisals in cases alleging bullying.
The FWC has refused to grant Westpac orders seeking that it be allowed to contest a manager's sacking without revealing to her why it dismissed her, describing the application as "unusual, if not unprecedented".
A presidential member denied an unfair dismissal applicant a fair hearing when he threw out his case for want of prosecution without a formal request from the employer, a FWC full bench has ruled.
A veteran garbo has lost his right to a $70,000 accrued personal leave payout after the NSW IRC upheld his sacking for riding on the back of a garbage truck, finding he held a cavalier attitude and lacked insight, despite expressions of regret.
A casual cook has been cleared to contest her dismissal after the FWC found she was caught between the competing interests of two workplaces in responding to the Victorian Government's single employer directive at the height of that State's COVID-19 outbreak.
