In a decision further clarifying when and to what extent lawyers can become involved in FWC cases, the Commission says its rules do not stop parties seeking legal advice in the lead-up to hearings.
An FWC full bench has quashed an interlocutory decision allowing an employer to engage lawyers, finding it incumbent on the tribunal to give a self-represented employee an opportunity to weigh in on the matter.
A worker will have another shot at seeking a 45-day extension to file his general protections claim after an FWC full bench found he was wrongly refused on the basis that he needed a credible explanation for the entire length of the delay.
An FWC member has declined to award costs to a prominent community legal centre's general manager despite finding she had been capriciously ousted by the management committee during a restructure and ordering her reinstatement.
In a decision further clarifying naming protocols for complaint and litigation respondents, a court has ruled that a law firm's individual partners need not be identified in a discrimination case brought by a former employee.
The FWC has refused to extend time for an unfair dismissal claim lodged five days late by a pro bono solicitor found to be "primarily responsible" for the delay, ruling that the worker knew the 21-day limit applied and should have followed it up with his representative.
The FWC has opened the way for an on-hire casual employee to challenge his dismissal, after rejecting a labour hire company's jurisdictional objection that he could have no reasonable expectation of continuing employment, or was engaged for a specified task which came to an end.
A rail employee denied reinstatement in part as a result of post-dismissal Facebook posts calling his employer a "bastard" and "criminal with stars" will have another shot at challenging his sacking, after a NSW court of appeal found the state IRC exceeded its powers.
A worker who partly blamed his two-years late unfair dismissal claim on a police investigation into alleged death threats he made after his sacking has failed to win an extension of time.
The FWC has identified "deficiencies" in management of redundancies by a mining services company that replaced its employee relief pool with on-hire workers, counselling that it should have given greater consideration to quarantining some positions for redeployees.
