A business that "outgrew" its informal HR processes got its fingers burnt when a young employee's welfare became endangered by its tolerance of the escalating misconduct of a worker who threatened to give him "the Ivan Milat treatment", the FWC has found.
The "obvious impracticability" of sanitising a koala helped to justify a pandemic-affected wildlife sanctuary's decision to make redundant a worker responsible for co-ordinating photographs of visitors holding its main attraction, the FWC has found.
In a significant ruling on the standing of independent contractors, a full Federal Court has upheld an appeal by two truck drivers pursuing unpaid leave and superannuation entitlements after working exclusively for a multinational company for almost 40 years.
The major iron miner Fortescue Metals has called for the income tax exemption ceiling for employee share schemes to be lifted from $1000 to $5000, arguing the cap is too low to provide a "meaningful incentive".
The FWC has allowed a worker to proceed with her unfair dismissal case after it found that counting the employer's director and company secretary lifted numbers above the 15-employee threshold that excludes small businesses.
In a decision reinforcing the need for pandemic-affected employers to spread the burden fairly, the FWC has found that a multi-billion-dollar business should have reduced hours across a head office team instead of standing down one of its members for an indefinite period.
A senior FWC member has declined to recuse himself from hearing an unfair dismissal case brought by a disbarred lawyer who accused him of "blatant bias" and having a "sweet little racket" bullying unrepresented workers.
The FWC has upheld Essential Energy's dismissal of a whistleblowing risk manager deemed unable to perform her job's inherent requirements after suffering PTSD and taking extended leave following a finding that she breached its code of conduct.
An account manager who is suing Virgin Australia for alleged pregnancy discrimination and adverse action says it imposed an excessive workload when she returned from her first period of parental leave and made her redundant during her second.
In a decision highlighting the need for JobKeeper-enabling directions to be reasonable, an FWC full bench has quashed a finding that Prosegur rightly required full-time, part-time and casual armoured vehicle operators to work a minimum 25 hours a week.
