An "obstinate" worker's "barrage" of lengthy AI-generated "dense, repetitive and often rambling" emails and refusal to accept that his employer had resolved his complaints warranted his dismissal, the FWC has ruled.
An early childhood education trainee has won more than $10,000 compensation after the FWC found her employer had no reason to sack her by text based on "vague" examples of misconduct and failure to complete a qualification for which she had not yet been assessed.
A FWC full bench has upheld the reinstatement of a senior academic dismissed for sending "intimate and romantic" messages to a PhD student he supervised.
In what stands as an object lesson in how not to handle performance reviews, the FWC has highlighted the role of "managerial cowardice" and a passive HR department while reinstating a senior academic who received an "exceeds expectations" score shortly before three colleagues formally complained about her conduct.
A FWC member who ordered a meatworker's reinstatement wrongly discounted as hearsay evidence that he allegedly called his Pacific Islander colleagues "tree apes" and "black c-nts", a full bench has found.
A power industry worker who invited a colleague to continue their verbal jousting "outside" and told his supervisor to "get f--ked too" has won his job back after the FWC found his actions out of character in circumstances where he faced significant family health issues and "banter" was part of the workplace culture.
The FWC has applauded an employer for its "strong stance" in sacking a worker who told a toolbox meeting that Chinese people are "taking our jobs", but nevertheless awarded him $4000 compensation because of shortcomings in the dismissal process.
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".
