In a decision exploring what constitutes a disciplinary investigation, a FWC full bench has quashed a finding that a public transport agency must pay a group of train drivers blocked from attending work after failing to comply with its COVID-19 vaccination policy.
"Similarities" with the case of a worker awarded compensation after being shown the door for missing a COVID-19 vaccination deadline have not been enough to persuade the FWC that a public utility unfairly dismissed an employee when it denied him a chance to wait for a Novavax jab.
As Telstra next week prepares to defend a Federal Court class action on behalf of employees who refused to comply with its COVID-19 vaccination policy, the FWC has held that it met consultation requirements and "bent over backwards" to ensure fairness before sacking a worker with a moral objection to being jabbed.
A big employer's failure to give union representatives a "heads up" that it would impose a vaccination mandate did not necessarily render its subsequent dismissal of 25 workers unfair, the FWC has found.
The FWC has found that a Boeing subsidiary unfairly dismissed an unvaccinated worker because it should first have completed its consideration of whether it could redeploy him.
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in record numbers of people working from home, but the latest Hilda Survey suggests the period might not serve as a reliable indicator of productivity and job satisfaction levels for those who are not forced into it.
A FWC commissioner has recused himself from hearing a vax-hesitant university worker's dispute after accepting that views he expressed during unsuccessful conciliation raised doubts about his impartiality.
A Victorian government youth justice worker sacked for not having further COVID-19 vaccination shots after reacting adversely to his first dose has won compensation, the FWC finding the department should have explored redeployment and reasonable adjustments.
In a significant decision on the nature of work, the FWC has found that the nursing home at the centre of one of Queensland's deadliest COVID-19 outbreaks should have paid employees for the time spent taking rapid antigen tests before the start of their shifts.
A senior FWC member has described a public transport agency's vaccination policy as "pressur[ing]" workers to "give up [the] fundamental right" to bodily integrity, before ordering it to pay five train drivers sidelined because of their non-compliance.
