The FWC has ruled an employer had a right to refuse to pay sick leave to a worker recently warned about his "particularly excessive" use of the entitlement, while finding it nevertheless "irrelevant" whether cosmetic surgery or a burst appendix explained his absence.
In what might stand as one of the last FWC cases relying on the High Court's 2022 Personnel decision to establish whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor, the tribunal has rejected a manager's claim that she maintained the same role at a fintech company despite resigning and signing a contractor agreement as part of a move to Canada.
A FWC full bench has found a presidential member denied two workers procedural fairness when he took the "precipitous step" of dismissing their general protections applications before they received his email warning he might do so because of their failure to lodge submissions in reply.
An executive on workers compensation for a "psychological injury" related to a stumble and strain while working from home has failed to secure stop-bullying orders against her employer and a HR business partner or establish they put her at risk by asking her to return to the office following a domestic violence incident.
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.
An employer forced a burlesque performer to resign from her "dream job" as a result of its late payment of wages and the business's "persistent disorganisation", the FWC has found.
The UWU has defeated a federal government attempt to end strikes by Serco employees running immigration detention centres, after the FWC found it not unusual for detainees to climb on roofs, set off fire alarms or endure brief lockdowns, as occurred during the industrial action.
Interested parties have until 4pm next Monday to comment on draft employer and employee surveys commissioned as a key component of the FWC's bid to develop an award clause removing impediments to working from home.
