The FWC has ordered former IR Minister and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's alma mater Xavier College to pay a teacher $14,000 for his unfair dismissal, ruling it harsh because he had never held another job and his messy desk, late marking and poor interactions with his colleagues did not justify his axing after 21 years of service.
In a decision illustrating the challenges of conducting cases involving remote Indigenous employers, the FWC has awarded $18,000 to a sacked chief executive after failing to engage the respondent in proceedings despite 14 phone calls, numerous emails and five notices sent by express post.
An aged care home has been ordered to pay almost $400,000 in damages and penalties to a Chinese nurse summarily sacked after she complained that Filipino co-workers received more favorable treatment.
The Fair Work Act's compensation cap has operated inequitably to allow Guzman y Gomez to "benefit from its poor treatment" of a hard-working casual denied shifts while a HR manager maintained she remained employed, a senior FWC member has found.
A 63-year-old brothel receptionist summarily sacked via an intermediary after 15 years of "loyal" service in the "happy little family" workplace will receive near-maximum compensation, after a FWC ruling.
A property manager who returned home to down scotch and cokes with her sister following a panic attack during her working time has won $9,000 compensation, after the FWC found her real estate agent employer failed to establish that the hours-long drinking session coincided with her remotely accessing its IT system and deleting and forwarding her emails and other documents.
A union member acting as a maintenance contractor's health and safety representative has won interim reinstatement while the Federal Court weighs claims that the company sacked him for raising complaints about everything from silica dust exposure to welding fumes and fatigue management.
The FWC has found employer unfairly dismissed a worker when it cut his shifts after he took up work at a competing branch of the same franchise, because it wanted workers committed to the "awesomeness" of the business.
A transport company is to be referred to the FWO over its "alarming" indifference to its obligations as an employer, after an unfair dismissal case in which it exhibited "disregard" for the FWC before being ordered to pay $30,000 to a former worker sacked without warning.
An employer must pay more than $30,000 compensation to a manager sacked over suspicions that he was taking it for a ride over sick leave, a fact only revealed under questioning by a FWC member.
