Employers should be subject to a stronger onus to prevent s-xual harassment under the existing positive duty to provide safe workplaces under OHS laws, while the Fair Work Act should be amended to include explicit anti-harassment rights, according to Victoria Legal Aid.
A multinational company was entitled to dismiss an employee for sending commercial-in-confidence emails to a former co-worker preparing legal action over alleged bullying by its HR manager, the FWC has found.
The FWC has upheld the dismissal of a warehouse worker who repeatedly breached his employer's policies on smoking, eating and drinking in the workplace.
The FWC has told an employer that it must accept responsibility for a "suboptimal" workplace culture that it could have reset before sacking two senior wharf workers who verbally abused a female colleague, but it upheld their dismissals for behaviour that "crossed the line".
The FWC has castigated port operator DP World for its lackadaisical mental health policies in upholding a model long-term employee's dismissal for being drunk on duty.
An FWC full bench has upheld a finding that Victoria Police lacked reasonable business grounds to refuse a long-serving detective's request, under a "right to flexible working arrangements" clause, for extra rest days as he makes a transition to retirement.
A full bench has allowed an employee to challenge his dismissal for refusing to use his employer's fingerprint scanning technology that monitored attendance and tracked shifts, finding the case raises "important, novel and emerging issues".
A council's imposition of a seven-month "leave blackout" period in a quest for greater efficiencies has run foul of the FWC, the tribunal finding its failure to consult workers over the policy breached best practice and notification provisions in its agreement.
A company that withdrew an offer of employment when it discovered the potential employee's criminal record has paid her $2500 compensation and revised its global recruitment and HR practices, after the AHRC found it discriminated against her.
An HR manager's "unnecessary allegations" and "overreach" have contributed to a finding that although a drug and alcohol tester's failure to declare he was taking Nurofen Plus provided a valid reason for dismissal, his sacking was unfair.
