The FWC will allow multinational cereal giant Sanitarium to lawyer-up to defend two unfair dismissal claims, noting it is "stressful enough" for an HR manager to be a witness without also representing the company, while its membership of an employer group is irrelevant.
A barrage of "thuggish" texts sent by the partner of a worker alleging harassment and bullying did not justify her dismissal, the FWC has found, describing the employer's attempt to vacuum-seal its investigation of her claims as both unreasonable and unrealistic.
A worker who suffered 11 seizures the day after his sacking has won permission to pursue an unfair dismissal claim lodged five months' late, despite his employer arguing that the "trail is now very cold".
A casual sales assistant who secretly recorded disciplinary meetings leading up to her dismissal has on her fifth turn before the FWC been awarded $4500 compensation.
A mining company must reinstate a summarily sacked coal mine worker and reimburse six months' lost income after its hasty and "inadequate" HR disciplinary process "effectively turned a very strong case with a valid reason to one with little or no procedural fairness".
The FWC has upheld the dismissal of a student visa holder who punched a co-worker in the face after accusing him of saying "a lot of bad things" about a colleague she claimed was regularly being sexually assaulted by local Japanese gangsters.
A non-profit sporting club has been ordered to pay $9750 compensation to a fitness instructor sacked while on JobKeeper after declining shifts because of the suspension of the club's child-minding facilities due to COVID-19.
The FWC has granted a university's application to admit new evidence about a senior lecturer's "inappropriate" interaction with a former student as it defends his sacking last year for alleged misconduct.
A 64-year-old BlueScope worker sacked for mishandling a 13-tonne coil has failed to win his job back, after a full Federal Court majority found a FWC bench did not go beyond its powers to halt his reinstatement.
The FWC will allow an employer organisation to use external lawyers, despite accepting that it has sufficient in-house expertise, as it defends a self-represented former employee's unfair dismissal claim.
