An employer failed to "adhere to basic standards of decency" when it made an employee on parental leave redundant in an email, without consultation, in "a case that exemplifies the benefits" of having some form of "keeping in touch" system during parental leave, the FWC has found.
The High Court will next month begin hearing mining giant Peabody's challenge to a full Federal Court finding that it did not genuinely make workers redundant when it failed to consider whether it could redeploy workers to jobs performed by contractors.
A customer service operator's "pregnancy brain" contributed to her filing a late application contesting her redundancy and was among the factors justifying an extension, the FWC has found.
A major construction company has avoided having to compensate a worker despite failing to properly consult with him over his redundancy, after the FWC found on balance that such "deficiencies" ultimately did not make the dismissal unfair.
The FWC has rejected an employer's bid to avoid paying redundancy entitlements to a nurse who refused to transfer to a higher-paying, non-nursing "technician" role.
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 presidential member has underlined that workers are not immune from retrenchment while on leave or working under flexible arrangements, confirming that operational issues warranting severance can arise at any time.
A recruitment company leader seeking to challenge the restraints in his employment contract and a shareholder agreement has been allowed to continue the case in NSW, after related entities in Great Britain failed to convince the Federal Court to stay the matter because of an exclusive jurisdiction clause.
A FWC presidential member has suggested policymakers give greater consideration to recognising the "industrial qualifications" of migrant workers after ruling an employer unfairly dismissed a factory hand when it made him redundant without consultation due to his unsuccessful attempts to obtain an Australian forklift licence.
A judge has compiled a checklist for workers pursuing employers over unreasonable hours, highlighting the difficulties a product marketing manager faces in building her adverse action case without detailed evidence of workloads, deadlines and demands to complete tasks.
