A senior FWC member has sidelined himself from two unfair dismissal claims against Coopers Brewery after disclosing that he accepted donated beer for a 2014 fundraiser.
In a case that illustrates sexual harassment problems at remote mine sites, the Commission has upheld BHP Billiton's sacking of a service technician after he groped and pursued two young female cleaners, prompting one to leave the "too unsafe to return" worksite.
In a significant decision regarding the statutory meaning of "dismissed", a five-member FWC bench majority has ruled that an employer did not sack a worker when it shaved almost 10% off his annual pay for disciplinary reasons.
The FWC has taken the National Audit Office to task for revoking permission for a veteran public servant "at increased risk" from COVID-19 to work from home and then sacking her after she refused to return to Canberra while she cared for her dying uncle at their second residence.
A support worker came close to committing an offence when she implied that an FWC presidential member behaved in an unusual manner and interfered to reduce her settlement during a conciliation conference.
The FWC has ordered Qantas to reinstate a trainer accused of inappropriately staring at a female employee's breasts during a "distinguishably lewd" safety demonstration, while taking aim at a "ludicrous" video it used to demonstrate s-xual harassment.
A FWC member has applied the "well known 'duck principle'" in holding that a tyre recycling company suspected of phoenixing unfairly sacked a worker who complained about unpaid superannuation, before threatening to kill a director.
A child protection public servant who claimed on Facebook that the military would remove kids from unvaccinated parents and depicted the former NSW premier as Hitler has won compensation after a tribunal found circumstances rendered her dismissal harsh.
In a thinly-veiled shot at a tribunal colleague who used her position to criticise vaccine mandates, a senior FWC member has emphasised that it is not for the Commission to undermine the law by entertaining parties' "alternative policy preferences".
