The head of Western Australia's Industrial Relations Commission has vented her frustration at the efforts of an unfair dismissal advocate by expressing a desire for legislative changes that would empower the tribunal to "discipline" underperforming agents.
The FWC has slammed a childcare centre for a "hopelessly flawed investigation" that led to a teacher being sacked over false allegations she mistreated a child, suggesting the owner should claim his money back for poor legal advice.
An FWC full bench has cleared the way for a commissioner to redetermine an employer's objections that a worker allegedly sacked when a stranger handed her an unmarked envelope at her home did not qualify for unfair dismissal protection because it should be deemed a small business.
A wholefood store that summarily dismissed a chef after a three-day absence for cancer treatment has failed to establish that he abandoned his employment, the FWC slamming its "extraordinarily heartless disregard".
In a penalty decision ordering the local arm of a global conglomerate to pay a further $20,000 to a supervisor unlawfully sacked by an HR manager within her probationary period, a court has cited the company's failure to find out more about the contravening conduct and whether it needed to minimise the risk of it reoccurring.
A former TWU official has lost a bitter dispute with the union over his dismissal in 2014, which he claimed was motivated by his absence from work due to a back injury.
The FWC has stymied a company director's unfair dismissal claim for a second time, after a fresh hearing affirmed his car allowance and other benefits put his earnings beyond the high income threshold.
The FWC has allowed an employee to file an unfair dismissal claim 33 days late, on the grounds that he had been hospitalised due to a suicide attempt four days after his sacking.
