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.
The Commonwealth Bank has denied bullying and retrenching a former general manager for revealing a scheme allowing colleagues to artificially boost bonuses, claiming also that his actions did not qualify for whistleblower protections and that he cannot pursue his claim under the terms of his deed of release.
The FWC has rejected an employer's claim it did not summarily dismiss an apprentice by text, describing a later email in which the teenager was told "we are holding your position open" as a "retroactive" attempt to characterise the worker as having quit.
An employer who failed to record a worker's serial misconduct, provide a written warning or give him an opportunity to respond nevertheless did not deny him a fair go when forcing him to resign following a brief lunch room meeting, the FWC has found.
The FWC has reproached a childcare provider for failing to inform a worker that her past experience in a violent relationship was a "relevant" factor in its decision to dismiss her after she challenged a co-worker to a fight.
