A state IR commissioner has recused himself from hearing a high-profile adverse action case after admitting he shouldn't have perused material from the state's anti-corruption body that contradicted other evidence, before he considered admitting it.
In a decision confirming that employers must "expressly" advise workers when their job is at risk and provide them enough time to demonstrate improvement, an FWC full bench has quashed a finding that a bike shop complied with the Small Business Unfair Dismissal Code when sacking one of its mechanics.
In a ruling that builds on the recent "shadow lawyers" decision, an FWC full bench has found that a large company with in-house IR legal expertise does not require approval to engage a law firm to prepare its defence of a self-represented worker's dismissal claim.
A WA law firm will have to defend a restricted legal practitioner's underpayment and unfair dismissal claims after it failed to convince the state's IRC that he was an independent contractor, with the tribunal finding that only common law employees can be engaged in such roles.
An HR manager who engaged in a "concerted campaign" against her employer's interests, openly compiling a dossier about it and exceeding her authority by initiating a colleague's redundancy, has failed to win back her job.
The FWC on rehearing a yard hand's dismissal application has observed his employer's lack of HR expertise did not wash as an excuse for the "disgraceful and grossly unfair" sacking, but slashed compensation due to his vulgar language and propensity to snap when frustrated.
The FWC has chastised an employer for failing to abide by "industrial fair play" when it neglected to tell a worker it would seek to slash his redundancy payment if he didn't accept an alternative role.
In a significant decision affecting those in temporary government roles, the FWC has found a Federal department failed to recognise it was dismissing a "non-ongoing" employee when it informed him that repeated instances of disrespectful behaviour meant he would not be offered further work.
