In a case that yesterday earned a mention in Parliament, the FWC has overlooked an employer's reasons for sacking a volatile employee to find that his own evidence that he was "not right" to return to work because mental health issues justified the dismissal.
The charity defending a High Court case with the potential to extend duty of care to the disciplining and sacking of workers has warned that overturning a 115-year-old precedent would "disturb the allocation of risk" in every current employment contract.
TAFE NSW must pay two workers more than $230,000 in legal costs and $100,000 in compensation after the FWC overturned their dismissals for alleged fraudulent, dishonest and corrupt behaviour.
A supervisor's criticism of management in a social media group chat that "incit[ed] a negative and combative environment among the team", along with performance issues, provided a valid basis for dismissing her, the FWC has found.
In a decision assessing how long a valid reason remains "current", the FWC has overlooked serious procedural deficiencies to back a landscaping business's summary sacking of a gardener almost two months after he called a colleague a "fat exploiter of foreigners".
A truck driver sacked without notice via a Saturday afternoon voicemail following the sale of his employer's business has won compensation, including a payment to cover the cost of "upskilling" his licence.
The FWC has ordered a small business owner to compensate his "disgruntled" ex-partner after finding she withdrew money from the company account in the context of their "deteriorating relationship", not as an employee wanting to damage the enterprise.
The FWC has found it highly likely that a worker's Scottish accent contributed to her "this is sh*t" comment being misheard by her supervisor as "I quit", meaning the employer lacked a valid reason for her subsequent dismissal.
The FWC has reduced the redundancy entitlements of five former employees of online trading platform Bartercard after they refused new positions requiring them to work exclusively from home and to fork out the full cost of setting up an appropriate space.
