In a case that weighs up employer rights when conducting investigations under commonly-used agreement provisions, a FWC full bench has rejected a worker's request for an investigation report that details his alleged misconduct, but has suggested the employer re-open its probe because it denied him natural justice.
The FWC has warned employers against giving "generic and blanket HR answers" when they provide their "reasonable business grounds" for knocking back flexibility requests, before ultimately rejecting a bid from a worker with challenging caring responsibilities to continue working entirely from home.
The FWC has laid bare the difficulty of running what amount to underpayment cases against universities, finding in a union-run matter that not only did the employer have no system in place to reliably record hours but that the tribunal lacked the power to order compensation anyway.
An employer has failed to win a stay on a FWC decision knocking back its request to be represented by a lawyer, which would have delayed an underpayments case, after a senior member found its agreement only allows representation for those initiating disputes.
Victoria Police rejected a crime scene officer's request for a flexible work arrangement on reasonable business grounds, the FWC has held, while urging the parties to embrace a "better than nothing" compromise.
A FWC presidential member has taken exception to a HSU official's description of a clinical handover area as a meal room suitable for conducting meetings, dismissing it as a "self-serving label. . . border[ing] on dishonest".
The FWC has directed senior representatives of supermarket giant Woolworths and the UWU to meet and seek to resolve more than 1000 disputes Australia-wide over a new productivity framework in the company's warehouses, after an individual brought his grievance with the regime to the tribunal.
A senior FWC member has delved into arbitral history to offer his own definition of a 'seven day shiftworker' after expressing frustration that there is no "simple" or "unambiguous" description of the term in the many awards it is employed.
The FWC has held that it cannot deal with a worker's casual conversion dispute as the recent sale of the business she works for has restarted the clock on her requirement to complete 12 months' service with her current employer.
A teacher who smoked and lifted a cask of wine above his head to drink from its tap during a video meeting to discuss online learning during a COVID-19 lockdown has failed to overturn a decision to dock his pay for a year.
