An AMWU delegate sacked for allegedly outing non-union co-workers has been awarded the maximum available compensation after the FWC expressed surprise that his multinational employer's investigation could have been conducted "so badly".
An employer's failure to give a skipper an opportunity to respond to specific allegations about the circumstances surrounding a charter boat's costly collision with a channel marker did not provide sufficient reason to reverse his dismissal, the FWC has found.
More than 90% of federal public sector employees have not been trained in the use of artificial intelligence despite 41% knowing that it is already being used in their department or agency, a survey has found.
Listed services giant Ventia has been ordered to pay $25,000 compensation after failing to persuade the FWC it had reason to sack a senior employee it claimed divulged commercially sensitive information to its former national hospitality and catering manager over a lunchtime catch-up.
A FWC full bench has upheld the reinstatement of a Sydney Trains employee found to have traces of cocaine in his system, despite ruling that a senior member wrongly concluded that employers need to establish workers who fail drug and alcohol tests are at risk of being "impaired" before sacking them.
The Federal Court has suppressed a Channel Seven producer's statement of claim and other documents lodged in connection with her general protections claim, saying that releasing details of alleged workplace behaviours would reduce the chances of achieving a mediated outcome by taking a "bargaining chip" off the table.
The FWC has made it clear that HR managers should not inform employees about company policies as a "tick and flick" exercise, finding an employer harshly sacked a worker who had no understanding of his unacceptable behaviour when he bullied a colleague for supposedly "sucking up" to their manager.
In a case that underlines the Commission's challenges in dealing with self-represented parties, a FWC member has refused to step back from hearing an anti-bullying claim, finding that a worker's 18 grounds for recusal, including the "unjust removal" of the worker's advocate from a hearing, had "no logical connection" with any possibility of bias.
In a warning to employers undertaking investigations of workplace complaints, the FWC has ordered a mushroom grower to compensate a former harvest team leader sacked on the basis of "scanty" hearsay evidence and the "sheer number" of allegations about bullying and racial discrimination.
FWC President Adam Hatcher is seeking feedback by October 25 on draft same-job, same-pay guidelines, including on whether the Commission should publish them.
