In a warning to employers about ambiguous drug and alcohol policies, the FWC has in a 50-page decision highlighted the "inadequacy" of a multinational company's code as being among the reasons for reinstating a wharfie sacked for cocaine use.
In a decision weighing how close to "perfection" an employee's standards need to be, the FWC has upheld the sacking of an experienced scientist accused of "manipulating" data for a single BHP soil sample among thousands he helped test.
A large childcare operator has been ordered to pay more than $8000 compensation to a sacked worker falsely accused of telling a parent about her tenuous visa status in supposed breach of a company policy found by the FWC to impose no constraint on such interactions.
A former organiser who claims the UWU sacked her for exacerbating post-amalgamation "tensions" by pushing for a staff agreement has won a three-month extension to file her second unfair dismissal application, after a full bench found her first one barred as she lodged it while pursuing an adverse action case.
The FWC has awarded $20,000 to an on-hire mineworker sacked after testing positive for anti-depressants, finding that more consideration should have been given to his "genuine misunderstanding" of the host's new drug policy.
An asset management company breached the employment contract of an analyst accused of making a fictitious manual entry of more than $284,000, but did not subject her to adverse action after alleging its leaders bullied her, a court has held.
A FWC full bench has refused to overturn the dismissal of a worker in a safety-critical role, upholding a member's finding that the seriousness of the worker's three positive drug tests outweighed procedural shortcomings.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of an aged care home manager found to have signed off on a colleague's "ludicrous" work-from-home arrangement while apparently harbouring hopes that their close relationship would deepen.
A dance instructor's refusal to take out the rubbish did not justify his sacking, the FWC has held, while his visa status has contributed to a finding of harshness.
Virgin Australia has failed to reverse the reinstatement of a flight attendant sacked for drinking a glass of prosecco within eight hours of a shift, and further accused of breaching its fatigue management policy by having s-x after requesting a shift change due to tiredness.
