Drawing on limited legislative guidance and case law on instalment payments, the FWC has ordered an employer to split a $30,000 compensation payment over two months rather than the 12 it sought, finding the worker entitled to the "fruits" of his claim "in a timely manner".
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.
In a decision questioning the value of medical certificates issued over the internet, a senior FWC member has excoriated a Melbourne lawyer after finding he claimed sick days in order to attend the AFL's Gather Round in Adelaide and "inexcusabl[y]" provided false evidence in pursuing his unfair dismissal case.
The FWC has extended time due to representative error, after a lawyer with "extensive experience in employment matters" who is also the author of an article on his firm's website about the "hurdles" to "jump over" to make an unfair dismissal claim, including the 21-day time limit, lodged a client's application four days late.
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.
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.
The FWC has ordered a small business owner to compensate his "disgruntled" ex-partner after finding she withdrew money from the company account in the context of their "deteriorating relationship", not as an employee wanting to damage the enterprise.
A small not-for-profit organisation with no shortage of valid reasons for dismissing a finance manager who "disappeared" during an audit period has nevertheless been ordered to pay her more than $12,000 compensation after the FWC found its executive director should not have acted as "judge, jury and executioner" by overseeing the entire disciplinary process.
The 12-day gap between a concreter's two-day "trial" and starting full-time work did not count as "continuous" employment, leaving him just shy of the statutory minimum necessary to challenge his dismissal, the FWC has found.
The FWC has ordered a company to compensate a long-serving 72-year-old worker sacked via a text declaring it had made his position "an honorary role", after hearing its general manager felt he had a cultural duty to show respect for his elders and sought to soften the blow.
