A FWC full bench has upheld the reinstatement of a Sydney Trains employee found to have traces of cocaine in his system, despite ruling that a senior member wrongly concluded that employers need to establish workers who fail drug and alcohol tests are at risk of being "impaired" before sacking them.
The FWC has made it clear that HR managers should not inform employees about company policies as a "tick and flick" exercise, finding an employer harshly sacked a worker who had no understanding of his unacceptable behaviour when he bullied a colleague for supposedly "sucking up" to their manager.
In a warning to employers undertaking investigations of workplace complaints, the FWC has ordered a mushroom grower to compensate a former harvest team leader sacked on the basis of "scanty" hearsay evidence and the "sheer number" of allegations about bullying and racial discrimination.
A NDIS provider has refuted allegations it took unlawful adverse action by sacking a worker because of her autism spectrum disorder, with a FWC consent arbitration finding her efforts to rescue a dog and dispose of a client's medication exceeded the scope of her duties.
An environmental consultancy fluffed its summary dismissal of a technician for alleged timesheet fraud when it had a watertight case to sack him for poor performance, the FWC has found.
In a case highlighting the need for employers to precisely identify decision-makers when defending adverse action matters, the Federal Court has expanded an academic's claim after accepting that a judge failed to "isolate" who at a leading university was responsible for making allegations of serious misconduct.
A lawyer's "significant omission" in failing to specify the deadline for a self-represented worker to lodge his unfair dismissal claim, despite sending the worker a costs agreement on that date, contributed to the delay and warranted a one-day extension, the FWC has found.
The FWC has ruled that an intoxicated FIFO female mineworker rubbing up against and trying to hold hands with her male colleagues when commuting to her worksite amounted to harassment and s-xual harassment and warranted BHP dismissing her.
The FWC has found a long-serving BHP Coal worker who had "clearly not adjusted to the modern workplace" s-xually-harassed two colleagues, but a rushed investigative process and lack of a proper opportunity to respond rendered his dismissal unfair.
A shareholding employee sacked by his "toxic" family business for raising his voice at a salesperson has won compensation but missed out on reinstatement due in part to his court bid to wind up the company.
