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.
An FWC full bench, in overturning a finding that the engineers, scientists and IT professionals award does not apply to an LNG consultant, has suggested reviewing its coverage provisions after "excessive litigation" to establish whether it covers unfair dismissal applicants.
Deliveroo maintains no "work-wages bargain" existed between it and a food delivery driver, in its foreshadowed appeal against last month's high-profile FWC ruling that he was an employee protected from unfair dismissal.
The FWC has refused to provide a two-day extension to a dismissed worker based on representative error, finding he failed to clearly instruct his union in a timely manner.
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 senior tribunal member has expressed exasperation over legislators' continued failure to address shortcomings in the Fair Entitlements Guarantee scheme after being forced to hand down an "unfair and unjust" decision denying two workers almost $70,000 in redundancy entitlements due to a liquidator's actions.
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.
