In what it claims is its first litigation seeking to have a holding company found responsible for its subsidiaries' breaches, the FWO has initiated court action against ASX-listed Super Retail Group for self-reported underpayments of more than $1 million that led to an internal audit and backpayments exceeding $50 million that the watchdog says remain short of the mark.
The FWC has reinstated a mineworker sacked by a Yancoal subsidiary for aggressive and threatening behaviour in which he threatened to cut a co-worker's throat, finding the dismissal harsh because of his unblemished 12-year tenure, his remorse and his PTSD.
The FWC will permit a security company to use telephone recordings of worker's allegedly "extremely offensive" conversations with colleagues in defending his unfair dismissal claim, finding it in line with telecommunications interception laws and surveillance clauses in his contract.
A judge has dismissed a worker's claims of disability discrimination and adverse action and upheld his sacking for aggressive workplace behaviour, finding that he should have told his employer upfront of his mental health issues and his autism diagnosis.
The FWC has found that a Boeing subsidiary unfairly dismissed an unvaccinated worker because it should first have completed its consideration of whether it could redeploy him.
The FWC has refused to extend time for a worker sacked after he took unapproved leave to visit a sick relative overseas and filed his unfair dismissal application 15 days late.
The FWC has ordered a worker's reinstatement and criticised his employer for its "severely flawed" dismissal process after it used a traffic violation as a "golden opportunity" to dismiss him for riling management by engaging in "covert" and "unlawful" industrial action.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a supervisor summarily dismissed for disobeying a reasonable direction when he allowed his team to drink alcohol while celebrating the completion of a major project.
Union officials can't use their right to enter premises for discussions with members to gather signatures on petitions or "secure a commitment to a particular course of action in the future", the Federal Court has found, ruling in favour of an employer that blocked access for an organiser who sought workers' backing for a majority support determination.
