A Federal Court judge has slammed a stockbroker founder's "outrageous" behaviour in the course of dismissing a damages claim against two former employees who enticed clients to a rival, while separately finding that he unlawfully deducted almost $50,000 from one advisor's pay to cover travel and entertaining costs.
In a warning for employers about properly educating workers on workplace policies, the FWC has reinstated an employee dismissed for breaching drug and alcohol rules, because the major company failed to ensure its workforce understood a key change.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a manager on the Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest-owned Lizard Island who emailed a former colleague's employment contract to a friend with HR experience in an effort to build an underpayment case.
The Albanese Government has today appointed four new FWC members with union or employee-friendly backgrounds, while indicating its "rebalancing" of the tribunal hasn't yet been achieved.
Working without a valid visa defeated a Costco employee's unfair dismissal claim, despite the necessary permit arriving within days of his sacking, the FWC has found.
Labor-aligned think tank the McKell Institute has called for the Albanese Government to commit to establishing a national labour hire licensing scheme by the end of the year, in a new report commissioned by unions and Woolworths with the aim of protecting horticultural workers.
A FWC full bench has decided to park its consideration of whether to bring forward the trigger for consultations in model agreement clauses after employers expressed "alarm" at the prospect of requiring it when proposing to introduce a major change rather than when they make a "definite decision".
An employer has clawed back just a fraction of costs it incurred in defending a "weak" and unreasonable unfair dismissal case after the FWC questioned why it needed lawyers to face off against a self-represented trainee nurse who "was not a formidable opponent".
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a Qube worker despite finding she was treated less favourably than two colleagues over a safety incident causing 20 train wagons to roll away, but it has suggested the employer "revisit" potentially disciplining the exonerated pair.
In a decision emphasising the importance of independent medical examinations, the FWC has found it was unfair to dismiss a cold storage worker over an inability to endure sub-zero temperatures without first heeding his doctor's advice to trial a reduced workload.
