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


Fighting "cowboy" fails to win job back

The FWC has ruled on the out-of-hours conduct of a maintenance worker who claimed he was acting in self-defence when he ended up in a fight after a "horsing-around" passer-by took his cowboy hat, leading to his expulsion from the giant Wheatstone LNG project.

FWC backs dismissal of safety officer

The FWC has upheld a building company's sacking of a safety officer who insisted his job was limited to an advisory capacity despite repeated warnings that he was to rigorously enforce safety across sites.

Sharing explicit images breached Coles' conduct rules: FWC

The FWC has found a Coles Supermarkets baker who texted explicit images to a manager who responded "great d--k pic" did not sexually harass him as he appeared to initially take them as "a joke", but the tribunal has upheld his dismissal as his behaviour breached the retailer's code of conduct.

FWC upholds sacking of worker who called managers "mercenaries"

The FWC has endorsed an ASU member’s dismissal for breaching his employer’s "respectful conduct" policy with his repeated aggressive and disrespectful behaviour towards its chief operating officer during bargaining for a new agreement.

Another shot for worker who disobeyed armed hold-up protocol

An FWC full bench has quashed a ruling that upheld Woolworths' sacking of a petrol station employee for failing to follow its armed hold-up protocol when he refused to hand over money and cigarettes to an unarmed but "difficult" customer.

Bench finds flaws in reinstatement of capsicum-spraying officer

A tribunal member who reinstated a transit officer sacked for spraying a minor with capsicum spray should have given greater weight to his past conduct and the viability of re-establishing an employment relationship, a full bench has found.


"Ignominiously memorable" case underlines importance of unfair dismissal protections: FWC

An employer treated a long-serving worker like a "dirty rag" when it sacked her for an alleged incapacity to meet her job's inherent requirements, the FWC has found in what it describes as an "ignominiously memorable" case that provides a "strong foundation for argument against any lessening" of unfair dismissal protections.

Sacking after complaint not unlawful adverse action

An employer has convinced a court that it did not take unlawful adverse action when its HR manager decided to dismiss an employee who had lodged a bullying and harassment complaint.

Delegate not victimised, tribunal rules

A tribunal has rejected a claim by a paramedic and union delegate that his employer victimised him when it investigated him for accepting police assurances that a patient was dead rather than follow standard procedures to check whether he was alive.