The FWC has found Australia Post's failure to meet its service commitments to blame for a worker's late unfair dismissal claim, with his express mail held up in the tribunal's PO box despite it paying for a daily delivery service.
The FWC is considering the remedy for an unfairly dismissed labourer after the death of his employer, who sacked him via text message because he lodged a WorkCover claim and planned to take time off to recover from a workplace injury.
The FWC has given short shrift to a part-time paid agent who claimed "other commitments" meant he was unable to meet a filing deadline, a senior member observing that the advocate's involvement had done nothing to improve the efficient disposition of an unfair dismissal matter.
In a significant decision on diplomatic immunity, a full Federal Court has tossed out an embassy's claim that it enjoys protection from unfair dismissal proceedings, confirming in the process that the FWC has standing as a "court" under the relevant legislation.
Two food delivery service founders have won more than $150,000 in compensation after their sacking by a company chair whose "total disregard" for procedural fairness made it unlikely he would be swayed by HR advice.
An Amazon on-hire worker has been reinstated and awarded almost $15,000 after a FWC member speculated that her threat to go to the tribunal over the reaction to announcing her pregnancy prompted her employer to "circle the proverbial wagons".
The FWC has ruled that an employee working in Saudi Arabia for a company based in that country has "no greater connection to Australia than employees in foreign lands sewing bikinis that will then be sold in Australian retail stores to women who will wear them on Bondi Beach".
A FWC member has taken into account an experienced lawyer's stray comma, an apparent formatting problem and the FWC's tardy notification of an issue in absolving a worker of any blame for her 35-day-late unfair dismissal application.
The FWC has opened the way for a casual newspaper producer to pursue Guardian Australia for unfair dismissal, finding the terms of his contract did not defeat the systematic basis of his engagements and nor did the fact he declined many shifts.
A detailed analysis of the "principal purpose test" for assessing award coverage has led the FWC to find a salesperson earning more than $200,000 a year is not covered by the commercial sales award.
