A FWC full bench has upheld a $60,000-plus payout to a worker sacked after refusing to take a breath test, rejecting an employer's claim that the umpire unfairly denied its HR manager a chance to give evidence.
A FWC member has taken into account an experienced lawyer's stray comma, an apparent formatting problem and the FWC's tardy notification of an issue in absolving a worker of any blame for her 35-day-late unfair dismissal application.
A senior FWC member has identified a paid agent's apparent "lack of familiarity" with Commission processes as a reason for refusing a worker's request for representation to defend his dismissal for alleged time-theft.
The FWC has backed Woolworths' summary sacking of a 63-year-old manager found to have s-xually harassed a 29-year-old colleague when he sent her a red lipstick kiss emoji and texted "I love you".
The FWC has taken post-employment restraints into account in finding an underperforming sales manager's dismissal unfair, because while they may have been unenforceable they still reduced his prospects of getting a new job.
The FWC has opened the way for a casual newspaper producer to pursue Guardian Australia for unfair dismissal, finding the terms of his contract did not defeat the systematic basis of his engagements and nor did the fact he declined many shifts.
FWC president Adam Hatcher has fleshed out procedural reforms for general protections claims involving dismissals, which have surged to 57% above the three-year average in the three months to September, while he has also foreshadowed the next areas he will target.
A detailed analysis of the "principal purpose test" for assessing award coverage has led the FWC to find a salesperson earning more than $200,000 a year is not covered by the commercial sales award.
The FWC has ordered the reinstatement of a casual early childhood educator axed from her workplace roster because she failed to fill out a child safety declaration while off the job in a remote, cyclone-afflicted area in China.
The FWC has awarded more than $30,000 compensation to a "difficult" former Services Australia worker who should have been "given space" to restore his mental health before he resigned.
