In a significant decision regarding the statutory meaning of "dismissed", a five-member FWC bench majority has ruled that an employer did not sack a worker when it shaved almost 10% off his annual pay for disciplinary reasons.
A FWC member has applied the "well known 'duck principle'" in holding that a tyre recycling company suspected of phoenixing unfairly sacked a worker who complained about unpaid superannuation, before threatening to kill a director.
Building on previous decisions taking a worker's mental health into account when allowing late unfair dismissal applications to proceed, the FWC has granted a time extension to a seed picker ensnared in her partner's breakdown.
In an important ruling on the NSW IRC's jurisdictional powers, the High Court has found that a since-repealed provision did not prevent the State tribunal considering a police officer's unfair dismissal case that challenged his forced retirement on medical grounds.
In a decision underlining the responsibility of workers to keep their contact details up to date, a senior FWC member has refused an unvaccinated worker's bid for a one-day extension to challenge his sacking by email on the basis he did not get the message.
A business manager summarily sacked by her director husband soon after they separated has lost her bid to run an unfair dismissal case after her use of a new car to move interstate helped to nudge her over the high-income threshold.
The FWC has found a law firm's lack of competence and "grossly unprofessional" conduct primarily to blame for the late unfair dismissal claim of a worker who breached a vaccine mandate, but it has refused to grant a one-day extension due to her role in the delay.
The FWC has thrown out an unfair dismissal case brought by a law student sacked from a full-time job as a legal assistant for failing to get a COVID-19 jab, finding she did not complete the required minimum employment term after taking time off to sit exams.
The FWC has refused to accept the pandemic as an excuse for an employer's late payment of wages over a six-month period, agreeing to consider a worker's general protections application on the basis that the delays left him with no choice but to resign.
For the second time in a month a FWC full bench has turned its mind to the fundamental question of the point at which a worker has been dismissed, overturning a decision that did not properly consider a disputed contract.
