The FWC has granted a worker a one day extension for his unfair dismissal claim due to the merits of his case, after he alleged his employer summarily dismissed him for a positive drug test taken during a period of annual leave, when its zero tolerance policy would not apply.
A FWC member has refused a multinational company's bid for him to stand aside from an AMWU delegate's attempt to reverse his sacking for allegedly revealing non-members' names, accepting he "did not sit Sphinx-like" at an interlocutory hearing, but suggesting the employer should have properly considered his comments in context instead of "cherry-picking".
The FWC has ruled that just as a dismissal only takes effect when it is communicated to the worker, a resignation can equally only apply when the employer becomes aware of it.
The FWC has reinstated a long-serving worker accused of violent threats to a colleague, finding the employer's circumstantial evidence fell short and did not establish that the incident occurred.
The FWC has granted extra time for a worker to challenge a dismissal she alleges came about while she underwent intensive cancer treatment, with no notification other than a request to hand over her work on her employer's WeChat group chat.
The FWC has rejected a law firm's argument that a legal assistant abandoned his job, finding its director sacked him in a text message he composed with the assistance of artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT.
A charity ordered to compensate a retrenched financial analyst has been reminded by the FWC that consultation involves "not merely telling a worker" they have been made redundant months after deciding to restructure their team.
A major employer has for the second time in a year been ordered to reinstate a worker after the FWC again identified fatal flaws in its investigation processes.
An organisation that supports members of the Stolen Generation did not have a reasonable basis for dismissing a worker for alleged "cultural insensitivity", but other conduct would have justified her sacking if it followed a proper process, the FWC has ruled.
The FWC has urged the AWU to address its unfair dismissal claim lodgement processes after the union revealed its use of an internal case management system has again played a role in an out-of-time application.
