The Albanese Government is seeking feedback on options to ban non-compete clauses that prevent workers from moving to better paying jobs, potentially taking clients and colleagues with them, along with measures to stop businesses colluding to make no-poach and wage-fixing deals.
A Metcash coordinator working from home since she started her job during the coronavirus pandemic has won rare flexibility orders requiring the distribution giant to exempt her from a directive to return to the office, so she can minimise risks for her child with cystic fibrosis.
An employer remained in the dark about the extent of a worker's acute mental health crisis after she attempted to take her own life, and reasonably concluded that she had abandoned her employment, the Fair Work Commission has found.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a school lab assistant who "forcefully" slapped the hand of a 15-year-old student who had been flicking pieces of a bull's eye in a science class, finding it hard to imagine when such "violence" would be appropriate "in this day and age".
A labour supplier could not be expected to force the host to change its stance on revoking an on-hire worker's site access for conduct the employer found only warranted a warning, but validly dismissed him for his inability to perform his job's inherent requirements due to his expulsion, the FWC has found.
The FWC has agreed to hear a bank employee's late challenge to his sacking for allegedly fraudulently disputing a credit card transaction, accepting sufficient doubts surrounded his intentions, the connection to work and the fairness of effectively ending his chances of ever landing a job in the industry again.
A mineworker has won reinstatement after her sacking for revealing the email addresses of 850 workers in a fundraising blast, the FWC warning employers in the process about the need to maintain distance between dismissal decision-makers and those "involved directly in the facts" of a matter.
The FWC has made it clear that a "mere preference" for working at home without providing sufficient evidence of responsibilities or needs will not pass the first hurdle for a flexible work order.
A FWC full bench has reinstated a rubbish truck driver sacked for a low-level alcohol reading, finding that the initial decision relied on reasons the employer had not put forward, without considering whether the driver had an opportunity to respond.
The FWC has ordered reinstatement for a professor who sent "intimate and romantic" messages to a student, including a photo of himself in his boxers, finding that his seven-year unblemished record since his recently-uncovered relationship mitigated his behaviour.
