The FWC has redrawn an employer's "line in the sand" over the use of mobile phones while driving forklifts, ordering it to reinstate and compensate a worker after concluding he was harshly sacked for a first safety policy breach.
A full Federal Court has quashed a software company's $5.2 million general protections payout and ordered a retrial after finding that the judge in awarding record compensation to the former Victorian state manager failed to provide adequate reasons in his 350-page decision.
Inghams unfairly sacked an Ethiopian-born worker for failing to weight-check multiple boxes of turkey leg, the FWC has held, noting its failure to provide a translator while "superficially" adhering to correct procedures might explain why it did not know he was following a supervisor's instructions.
A family-run venue management and catering business with thousands of workers and an "unsophisticated" and "impotent" HR function constructively dismissed its manager at a major stadium after issuing her two "entirely unsatisfactory" warnings for conduct that included requesting free tickets to a Geelong v Richmond AFL game.
In an important out-of-hours conduct ruling, the FWC has reinstated a veteran train driver sacked after he told his employer that he faced possible imprisonment for blowing four times over the blood alcohol limit when police breath-tested him on the road.
A manager unfairly accused of being a "malingerer" has had his near-$900,000 unlawful sacking payout slashed on appeal, a judge finding the original ruling contained enough errors to reduce the figure but stopping short of ordering a retrial.
A presidential FWC member has clarified the circumstances under which an employee can be said to have resigned, finding that a casual pool cleaner's repeated statement of intent did not qualify.
Victoria Police has lost its bid to sack an officer for "disgraceful conduct" in allegedly exposing himself to a day spa therapist while getting his groin waxed, the State's Court of Appeal this month holding its review board rightly set the dismissal decision aside.
In a decision exploring when employers can be said to have repudiated employment contracts, the FWC has ruled that a multinational dismissed a worker when it "unilaterally" withdrew his company car without compensation following a collision with a kangaroo.
An employee claiming he was misled into accepting a settlement while suffering PTSD has unsuccessfully sought to back out of it, the FWC holding "buyer's remorse" is no reason to undo a properly made deal.
