The FWC has counted a Rio Tinto worker's $20,000-plus remote area travel allowance as earnings that pushed her total income beyond the $153,600 cap for unfair dismissal claims.
The FWC has extended time for an employee sacked for allegedly persistently flouting a COVID-19 OHS plan, after it accepted her law firm's explanation that the stresses of working from home hampered the mental health of the paralegal responsible for lodging her claim.
The Federal Circuit Court has criticised the Federal Department of Agriculture for taking a "belligerent", "intransigent course" in resisting an extension of time and seeking costs against a former employee despite her lawyers accepting full responsibility.
A marijuana-smoking supervisor who allegedly resigned after declining a drug test has had his unfair dismissal claim thrown out because a "project uplift" allowance of at least 25% counted as earnings that pushed him beyond the high-income threshold.
An FWC bench has on the basis of representative error allowed a late unfair dismissal application after noting how thoroughly the employee pursued her claim, remarking "if only her solicitor had been as diligent".
A HR manager whose Christian faith led to him withdrawing an unfair dismissal claim after belatedly accepting he had been genuinely made redundant due to a coronavirus-related downturn has failed to win more time for a second application lodged upon learning new personnel had apparently filled his former role.
A senior FWC member has extended time for an unfair dismissal claim for a retail worker dealing with domestic violence, illness, homelessness and a lack of funds, acknowledging her "true hardship, genuine struggle the likes of which I do not often see".
An FWC full bench has held that it is not empowered to rule on a disbarred lawyer's claim that a senior member is unfit to hold office, but has remitted his unfair dismissal case to another member after finding he was denied procedural fairness.
The FWC has refused to grant an extension to a worker who filed his unfair dismissal application 144 minutes late after grappling with technical difficulties for four hours.
The FWC has accepted an employer's explanation that the "incompetency" of its HR team led it to advertising a redundant position less than two months later and subsequently inviting a former employee to "recommence" his role.
