The Federal Court's top judge has approved a $180 million "stolen wages" settlement for Indigenous workers in the NT, but not before expressing dismay at the "excessive level of human resources" used by Shine Lawyers in pursuing the matter and sounding a warning about the rising incidence of litigation funders in class action cases.
A transport company is to be referred to the FWO over its "alarming" indifference to its obligations as an employer, after an unfair dismissal case in which it exhibited "disregard" for the FWC before being ordered to pay $30,000 to a former worker sacked without warning.
An employer must pay more than $30,000 compensation to a manager sacked over suspicions that he was taking it for a ride over sick leave, a fact only revealed under questioning by a FWC member.
A Federal Court judge has slammed a stockbroker founder's "outrageous" behaviour in the course of dismissing a damages claim against two former employees who enticed clients to a rival, while separately finding that he unlawfully deducted almost $50,000 from one advisor's pay to cover travel and entertaining costs.
The Los Angeles-based HR manager for the Melbourne subsidiary of a Chinese hot pot chain did not apply enough rigour to investigating claims about a "knife-wielding" chef before sacking her for a second time, the FWC has found.
In a decision weighing how close to "perfection" an employee's standards need to be, the FWC has upheld the sacking of an experienced scientist accused of "manipulating" data for a single BHP soil sample among thousands he helped test.
A large childcare operator has been ordered to pay more than $8000 compensation to a sacked worker falsely accused of telling a parent about her tenuous visa status in supposed breach of a company policy found by the FWC to impose no constraint on such interactions.
The FWC has awarded $20,000 to an on-hire mineworker sacked after testing positive for anti-depressants, finding that more consideration should have been given to his "genuine misunderstanding" of the host's new drug policy.
An asset management company breached the employment contract of an analyst accused of making a fictitious manual entry of more than $284,000, but did not subject her to adverse action after alleging its leaders bullied her, a court has held.
A dance instructor's refusal to take out the rubbish did not justify his sacking, the FWC has held, while his visa status has contributed to a finding of harshness.
