A worker's covert recordings of disciplinary meetings might have been lawful if he had only used them to "aid his recall", rather than submitting the audio and transcripts as evidence in his unfair dismissal case, the FWC has ruled.
The FWC has backed the sacking of a worker who shoved and swore at a woman as they rode an elevator towards his office, rejecting his claims of self-defence and that the employer's code of conduct did not apply because his shift had not started.
An employer's request for a medical certificate demonstrating a senior manager's fitness for work after an extended absence would have been unlawful and unreasonable if his contract had not required him to participate in medical examinations.
A spurned TWU delegate found to have aired false bullying allegations against a co-delegate during a meeting at which he referred to him as "kid" and told him to put his "b-lls on the line" by holding a vote has lost his unfair dismissal case, despite his employer's procedural failings.
A retrenched educator who rejected an alternative role because she wanted to keep working from home at least a day a week has lost her severance entitlements, after the FWC found she did not have a formal right to maintain her flexible arrangements.
The FWC has found that a mine superintendent who "supervised supervisors" is not covered by the professional employees award and his pay exceeds the high income threshold, rendering him unable to pursue his unfair dismissal claim.
A training college must pay more than $8000 to an accounts manager reputedly made redundant in anticipation of laws restricting international student numbers that never passed.
A FWC full bench has reinforced that a member did not expressly condemn using medicinal marijuana for pain management in a safety-critical role because it was not relevant to considering whether a council harshly sacked a worker who switched prescriptions to one containing THC.
The FWC has ordered former IR Minister and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's alma mater Xavier College to pay a teacher $14,000 for his unfair dismissal, ruling it harsh because he had never held another job and his messy desk, late marking and poor interactions with his colleagues did not justify his axing after 21 years of service.
In a decision illustrating the challenges of conducting cases involving remote Indigenous employers, the FWC has awarded $18,000 to a sacked chief executive after failing to engage the respondent in proceedings despite 14 phone calls, numerous emails and five notices sent by express post.
