Case law page 29 of 40

399 articles are classified in All Articles > Workplace policy > Case law


One-off pot smoker's sacking went off the rails: FWC

The FWC has reinstated a rail worker sacked for coming to work the day after he smoked his first joint in 30 years and has taken Sydney Trains to task over its purported zero tolerance for drugs.

Tribunal reduces length of demotion

The NSW IRC has considered the dividing line between misconduct and performance issues in cutting short the demotion of an assistant principal accused of hugging and professing her love for students, giving gifts and laughing when one of them threw paint over a colleague.



Repeated mobile use did not warrant instant sacking

A gym must compensate a martial arts instructor for taking the "unnecessarily harsh" step of summarily sacking him, despite the FWC finding it within its rights to give him his marching orders for constantly using his phone while supervising classes.

"People like you can't get pregnant" remark justified sacking

The FWC has upheld the dismissal of an Energy Australia employee who told one colleague she could not get pregnant due to her sexuality and suggested to another that he was related to Deepak Chopra because of his Indian descent.


Brawl at BHP Xmas party justifies sacking

The FWC has upheld the sacking of a BHP Coal mineworker who punched a supervisor in the face and asked a colleague if she had "fake t-ts" at a company Christmas party, but has reinstated another employee dismissed for serious misconduct at the same event.

Tribunal scolds BHP for procedural fairness defects

The FWC has admonished a BHP subsidiary for taking a "haphazard" approach to its disciplinary guidelines, finding it had a valid reason to sack a mineworker for her "deviant" conduct when she put a s-x toy in a colleague's carry-on baggage, but procedural failings made it unfair.