Fair Work Commission and predecessors page 106 of 202

2014 articles are classified in All Articles > Institutions, tribunals, courts > Fair Work Commission and predecessors


Bench corrects "counter-intuitive" compensation ruling

A tribunal member "counter-intuitively" refused to award compensation to an unfairly dismissed employee after failing to assess financial loss and wrongly asserting that she had admitted to competing priorities, an FWC full bench has found.

FWC deep-dives on nature of work

The importance of 'choice versus direction' in determining whether employees are working or not has been highlighted in an FWC decision considering the case of boat masters and crew having their unpaid meal breaks interrupted to assist passengers on multi-day dive trips.

$10K for manager sacked while on sick leave

A home improvement company had a valid reason to sack a business manager who recklessly approved credit for a struggling customer, but the FWC has held that its process in dismissing him while on sick leave rendered it unfair.

Bank not in deal breach despite IT worker's cloud-based fears

An IT specialist with a major bank has failed to persuade the FWC that deployment to a new cloud-first role represented an agreement breach because it placed unreasonable demands on his fading capacity to learn.

R&R counts towards minimum employment period: FWC

A casual FIFO worker has been cleared to pursue an unfair dismissal claim despite the employer arguing that half of his seven months with them was taken up with unpaid R&R.

Late unfair dismissal applicant "honoured" her dying mother: FWC

A worker dismissed two days before flying overseas only to discover on arrival that her mother was dying of cancer has had her late unfair dismissal application accepted, the FWC finding it would have been "shockingly callous" to require detailed medical records sought by her former employer.


"Arbitrary" coverage of high earners sinks deal

The FWC has rejected a coal mining deal that would have let a new Qube subsidiary "arbitrarily" determine coverage by excluding those paid above the high-income threshold.

Regular work, not hours, the key to casual status: Bench

An FWC full bench has allowed a casual worker to claim unfair dismissal after finding a senior tribunal member wrongly focussed on her irregular "pattern" of days and hours in holding she had not met the minimum employment period.