The FWC has redrawn an employer's "line in the sand" over the use of mobile phones while driving forklifts, ordering it to reinstate and compensate a worker after concluding he was harshly sacked for a first safety policy breach.
Inghams unfairly sacked an Ethiopian-born worker for failing to weight-check multiple boxes of turkey leg, the FWC has held, noting its failure to provide a translator while "superficially" adhering to correct procedures might explain why it did not know he was following a supervisor's instructions.
A FWC full bench has upheld a finding that a Toll health and safety representative was not entitled to be paid for attending the disciplinary meetings of another HSR, or grabbing a coffee after, and was after a "commendable" process rightfully sacked for falsifying his timesheets.
A family-run venue management and catering business with thousands of workers and an "unsophisticated" and "impotent" HR function constructively dismissed its manager at a major stadium after issuing her two "entirely unsatisfactory" warnings for conduct that included requesting free tickets to a Geelong v Richmond AFL game.
In an important out-of-hours conduct ruling, the FWC has reinstated a veteran train driver sacked after he told his employer that he faced possible imprisonment for blowing four times over the blood alcohol limit when police breath-tested him on the road.
The FWC has upheld a Qube subsidiary's sacking of a truck driver who blamed a positive blood alcohol reading on sucking on three-quarters of a 10-pack of Anticol cough lozenges to counter a dry throat.
FWC Deputy President Gerard Boyce has again run afoul of a tribunal bench, which has reminded him that conduct months after a dismissal cannot be considered when deciding whether an employer has a valid reason.
A manager unfairly accused of being a "malingerer" has had his near-$900,000 unlawful sacking payout slashed on appeal, a judge finding the original ruling contained enough errors to reduce the figure but stopping short of ordering a retrial.
A presidential FWC member has clarified the circumstances under which an employee can be said to have resigned, finding that a casual pool cleaner's repeated statement of intent did not qualify.
The FWC has refused to permit the Commonwealth Bank to bring in external lawyers to help it defend an unrepresented worker's unfair dismissal claim, despite the bank claiming its team of eight in-house employment solicitors are either unavailable or lacking recent experience.