The Los Angeles-based HR manager for the Melbourne subsidiary of a Chinese hot pot chain did not apply enough rigour to investigating claims about a "knife-wielding" chef before sacking her for a second time, the FWC has found.
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.
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.
The FWC has extended time for an 11-days-late unfair dismissal claim, after finding the HR professional representing her incorrectly advised her to send a letter of demand to the employer in the interests of "procedural fairness", leading to her missing the 21-day deadline.
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.
A worker's continued refusal to take responsibility for a workplace car accident and his "highly inappropriate" emails criticising the investigation of the collision warranted his dismissal, the FWC has ruled.
A FWC presidential member has lambasted a union's legal team for leaving an illiterate member "high and dry" when deciding not to pursue a "more than arguable" dismissal challenge that ultimately led to reinstatement with full backpay.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a long-serving Queensland Rail protection officer who took cocaine on the morning of his rostered night shift and claimed he only started using the drug to cope with the stress of a workplace investigation.
