The FWC has found that unpredictable time in lieu should not be counted when determining whether a worker is excluded from making an unfair dismissal claim because their remuneration exceeds the statutory threshold.
A business manager summarily sacked by her director husband soon after they separated has lost her bid to run an unfair dismissal case after her use of a new car to move interstate helped to nudge her over the high-income threshold.
The FWC has counted a Rio Tinto worker's $20,000-plus remote area travel allowance as earnings that pushed her total income beyond the $153,600 cap for unfair dismissal claims.
A marijuana-smoking supervisor who allegedly resigned after declining a drug test has had his unfair dismissal claim thrown out because a "project uplift" allowance of at least 25% counted as earnings that pushed him beyond the high-income threshold.
The FWC has stymied a company director's unfair dismissal claim for a second time, after a fresh hearing affirmed his car allowance and other benefits put his earnings beyond the high income threshold.
Dismissal should be effected "in person"; Highly-paid manager not award-covered; Late claim sent to FWC staffer to proceed: Bench; Claim survives non-compliance with evidence deadline.
A senior FWC member has approved an employer's request for legal representation in a dismissal case, but not before requiring hearings be conducted in private, that he be free to provide "appropriate" guidance to the unrepresented former worker, and that he retain the power to revoke permission if the lawyer complicates proceedings.
The FWC has given the go-ahead for the regional director of a multibillion dollar real estate business to pursue his unfair dismissal claim despite earning well above the income cap, because his duties established he was in fact an award-covered sales representative.
Employers are settling general protections claims for six-figure sums to avoid the risk of uncapped compensation if the cases go to court, newly-released FWC data has revealed.
