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 removal of a long-serving on-hire worker on her host's instruction after she mislabelled two boxes amounted to an unfair dismissal but the FWC has "reluctantly" declined to order compensation despite the labour supplier's failure to "go into bat" for her.
An asset management company breached the employment contract of an analyst accused of making a fictitious manual entry of more than $284,000, but did not subject her to adverse action after alleging its leaders bullied her, a court has held.
A dance instructor's refusal to take out the rubbish did not justify his sacking, the FWC has held, while his visa status has contributed to a finding of harshness.
Virgin Australia has failed to reverse the reinstatement of a flight attendant sacked for drinking a glass of prosecco within eight hours of a shift, and further accused of breaching its fatigue management policy by having s-x after requesting a shift change due to tiredness.
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.
UPDATED A High Court majority has clarified that a 115-year-old UK House of Lords decision does not bar the recovery of damages for botched sackings, restoring the award of $1.44 million to a consultant unable to work since his "sham" dismissal in 2015.
A Federal Court judge has cast doubt over a manager's $1.5 million adverse action payout in a ruling highlighting the difficulty in establishing who in large corporations ultimately makes the decision to dismiss an employee.
An engineer who lost a close relative in the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict was clearly offended when a manager directed him to move his desk into a project "war room", but his refusal still provided a valid reason for his dismissal, the FWC has found.
The FWC has found it "disproportionate" to summarily sack a HR general manager accused of creating an "unsafe" environment for her team and calling for their heads when they gave negative feedback, while also rejecting the employer's inference that she opportunistically used her distress over the outbreak of the Israel-Palestine war to explain her conduct.
