The Fair Work Commission has rejected an employer's argument that a private arbitration clause in an employment agreement restricts its ability to deal with an unfair dismissal application.
A financial controller sacked by a global shipping company will recover more than $1m after a court ruled she was entitled to ten months' notice of termination of her employment and long service leave based on her full salary package.
The Federal Court has ordered a chief financial officer to hand back business records he intended to use in a general protections claim against his former employer, finding a "strong prima case" that by hanging onto them he had breached his contract of employment and corporations law.
A Fair Work Commission full bench majority has found that an employee of The Body Shop did not breach her employment contract by working as an independent contractor for another retailer, and was unfairly dismissed when she refused to terminate the engagement.
In what four judges agree is an "extraordinary case" involving a "spectacularly bad witness" and a "serial fraudster", a Swan Hill shop assistant will keep almost half a million dollars in back pay and interest after a full Federal Court confirmed that she had not agreed to work for nothing.
BHP Coal was entitled to direct a boilermaker to attend an appointment with a company-nominated physician to determine whether he was fit to return to work, and to then terminate his employment when he refused to go, a Fair Work Commission full bench has ruled.
Both sides are claiming victory in the contractual tug-of-war over veteran programming executive John Stephens, following the NSW Supreme Court's refusal to grant the Ten Network an injunction to stop him taking up a new role with the Seven Network.
The Fair Work Commission has knocked back a major electricity distributor's application to exclude middle managers and senior technical employees from its new enterprise agreement, finding "no persuasive evidence" it would improve productivity and efficiency.
The Federal Court has refused to reinstate a sales consultant pending the hearing of his wrongful dismissal claim, finding that his relationship with his former employer had broken down and that damages would be an adequate remedy if he ended up winning his case.
A court has found it seriously arguable that a contractual clause was reasonable in restraining a Fairfax executive from working for a competitor for six months, but refused to order him to comply because the publisher was slow to enforce it and because he had given undertakings not to poach clients or use his former employer's confidential information.
