An "overwhelmed" manager caught up in her husband's hurried relocation to an interstate NRL bubble has been refused a six-hour extension to contest her redundancy, despite the FWC finding she had an arguable case.
A FWC member has sailed past a union lawyer's caution not to interfere in the wording of a proposed strike ballot, finding that an "ambiguous" question should be deleted to avoid perplexing employees voting on it.
The FWC has rejected the CFMMEU's attempt to intervene in the approval of a two-worker deal it had no history of involvement in, dismissing concerns that the agreement was as part of a corporate "ruse" designed to cover employees of the business's far larger parent company.
A senior FWC member has decided not to throw out a worker's unfair dismissal application on her own initiative after he was six minutes' late for a phone conference, failed to comply with directions and complained the tribunal ignored the "human aspect".
The FWC has questioned the choices that left two sacked childcare workers out of pocket despite being awarded compensation of 21 weeks' pay, observing that a "realistic" approach to the employer's settlement offer would have avoided costs that included having a barrister represent them before the tribunal over three days.
The High Court has refused to grant a large charity leave to appeal a finding that the FWC did not invalidly exercise judicial power when arbitrating a dispute brought under an inherited agreement.
A graduate lawyer who proposed the terms of his legal supervision arrangement has failed to persuade the FWC he was an employee when the firm allegedly sacked him three times before having him escorted from its office by police.
A senior FWC member has declined to step aside from hearing a resuscitated case involving the Commission's own email fail, covert recordings, a threat to kill and an alleged extortion attempt.
The FWC has criticised the lawyers of an unfair dismissal applicant and his former employer for "point scoring" conduct falling foul of professional conduct rules, while rejecting the latter's costs bid and claim it did not sack the worker despite announcing his redundancy.
