A US video game company that told a senior FWC member "I wish the United States was as diligent as you guys" about unfair dismissals has been ordered to reinstate an Australian-based tester, after the tribunal applied the new "practical reality" test for employment relationships.
A judge has slapped an $8000 penalty on a major Commonwealth department after expressing astonishment that it does not have a "human or technological" system in place to ensure it pays dismissed employees their correct entitlements.
The FWC has criticised a government department's premature destruction of CCTV footage that might have revealed the truth about a sacked bus cleaner's alleged theft of a handbag left on board.
The FWC has awarded indemnity costs against an IT company for its vexatious defence of an unfair dismissal claim that included a HR consultant's "astonishing" approach to the worker's new employer to establish his earnings.
The FWC has acceded to an employer's request to pay compensation of $44,450 in instalments, but has tightened the proposed timeframe, after a worker with almost a decade of service requested a pay rise and the director responded "you have me by the b-lls", before dismissing him suddenly by text message.
A mineworker has won reinstatement after her sacking for revealing the email addresses of 850 workers in a fundraising blast, the FWC warning employers in the process about the need to maintain distance between dismissal decision-makers and those "involved directly in the facts" of a matter.
A FWC full bench has reinstated a rubbish truck driver sacked for a low-level alcohol reading, finding that the initial decision relied on reasons the employer had not put forward, without considering whether the driver had an opportunity to respond.
A FWC full bench has upheld the reinstatement of a wharfie who tested positive for cocaine, rejecting employer arguments that the Commission's approach to appeals is "broadly wrong" and should involve reassessing a case rather than searching for errors in the original decision.
A full Federal Court has thrown out Serco's appeal against a finding that a senior manager sacked a trainer after he complained about the way she conducted a bullying investigation.
A schoolteacher "absurdly" sacked for yelling at students has won maximum compensation, after a FWC member retreated from his initial order to reinstate her.
