The FWC should look to the South Australian paid agent model because its registration criteria and disciplinary powers for code of conduct breaches are superior to the Western Australian system, the WA IRC's registrar says in a submission to the FWC's consultation on options to rein in "challenging paid agent conduct".
FWC member Bernie Riordan has dismissed a recusal bid, denying that he is biased towards tradespeople and against women, but will reallocate the case to preserve the tribunal's "scarce" resources.
The FWC has found understaffing weighed heavily on the mind of a custody officer sacked by Ventia for headbutting a door in frustration at a prisoner on the other side, noting it might be "unfair to apply the standards expected of angels to mere humans".
The FWC has rejected an employer's bid to wind up a general manager's unfair dismissal case after finding that neither of two settlement offers could be regarded as binding.
A small not-for-profit organisation with no shortage of valid reasons for dismissing a finance manager who "disappeared" during an audit period has nevertheless been ordered to pay her more than $12,000 compensation after the FWC found its executive director should not have acted as "judge, jury and executioner" by overseeing the entire disciplinary process.
The FWC is seeking feedback on options to rein in "challenging paid agent conduct" including new laws to establish a registration system and make it clear the tribunal can consider representatives' "capacity" when granting permission, plus a code of conduct.
An accused murderer has won extra time to pursue an unfair dismissal case against the ATO, claiming it constructively dismissed him when his wife used her power of attorney to tender his resignation while he was incarcerated and suspended from work.
The FWC has awarded compensation to an accounts assistant who said she could not return to the office after working from home for almost a decade, while her employer maintained that the arrangement only began with the pandemic.
The FWC has extended time for a TAFE worker to challenge his sacking after accepting that he might have misinterpreted the employer's "wrongheaded" language and taken it to mean it took effect on the date it announced the result of a review of its decision.
The Queensland IRC has refused a bid by Together Queensland to anonymise or remove a worker's name from her ex-husband's unfair dismissal decision, which refers to her application for an order under the State Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act.