In an important ruling on out-of-hours conduct, the FWC has found that an employer didn't need to receive a complaint before investigating then sacking a worker for sharing a p--nographic video via social media with friends who included 19 male and female work colleagues.
The FWC has upheld Bluescope Steel's sacking of a long-serving employee for his "appalling" timekeeping, but has found the company didn't have enough evidence to establish that he defecated in the workplace shower.
The FWC has highlighted the additional credibility provided when employers test for drugs in accordance with the Australian Standard, in upholding a multinational mining company's sacking of a marijuana smoker who breached its zero tolerance policy.
An FWC full bench has upbraided a tribunal member for suppressing the name of a sexual harassment complainant without proper consultation, but has upheld the sacking of a manager for the "hostile" and "derogatory" comments he directed at the trainee.
The FWC has ruled on the out-of-hours conduct of a maintenance worker who claimed he was acting in self-defence when he ended up in a fight after a "horsing-around" passer-by took his cowboy hat, leading to his expulsion from the giant Wheatstone LNG project.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a TAFE manager for preparing a false and misleading briefing note in a bid to exculpate himself from responsibility after becoming "caught up" in a training scam, and has rejected his submissions that the employer made him a scapegoat.
The FWC has refused to extend time for an unfair dismissal claim lodged five days late by a pro bono solicitor found to be "primarily responsible" for the delay, ruling that the worker knew the 21-day limit applied and should have followed it up with his representative.
An experienced meatworker's impulse to help out a stressed colleague without taking safety precautions prescribed by his employer's "cardinal rules" justified severing his employment, the FWC has found.
The FWC has acceded to a request to delay an unfair dismissal hearing for two AMWU delegates sacked by Visy Board for allegedly organising unlawful overtime bans, so that they don't prejudice their position in a parallel civil penalty prosecution the company has initiated against the union, an official and 69 employees.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a group training company's trainer for falsifying his timesheets, but has upbraided the employer for failing to give the worker enough time to study the complex allegations against him.
