An employer has convinced a court that it did not take unlawful adverse action when its HR manager decided to dismiss an employee who had lodged a bullying and harassment complaint.
A self-represented worker who is pursuing a bullying claim in the FWC would be placed at "further disadvantage" if her employer and two managers already being assisted by in-house HR specialists won the right to legal representation, the tribunal has ruled.
The FWC has declined to issue anti-bullying orders despite finding the allegations proved, reasoning that the employer had sufficiently reduced the risk of further incidents by changing the antagonist's job to ensure minimal contact between the parties.
The FWC has issued an interim anti-bullying order restraining the co-owner of a tyre business and his employee nephew from communicating with or being within 10 metres of each other, noting that a separate court order for the nephew not to commit "family violence" against his uncle had done little to improve a combative workplace atmosphere.
A university and its HR department embroiled in accusations of bullying between law school academics have been granted the right to engage lawyers to defend the claims.
The FWC has refused an employer's application to recoup its costs of defending an unfair dismissal claiming, noting the employer incurred its "unreasonable" $10,000-plus bill because its chose a law firm that provided a "Rolls Royce service".
The FWC has issued an interim order to restrain an employer from disciplining an executive for alleged misconduct until the tribunal determines her anti-bullying application.
A court has awarded more than $600,000 in damages to a state government employee with known mental health issues who suffered a "breakdown" after managers failed to properly consider her condition when they addressed a mounting conflict with a supervisor.
The FWC has upheld a disability support association's dismissal of a carer whose psychological injuries meant she could not fulfil the inherent requirements of her job, but has criticised the "regrettable" response by the employer's HR department to her bullying allegations.
The FWC has upheld DP World's sacking of a stevedore and self-proclaimed "big fish" in the MUA for bullying two colleagues who stepped outside a worker-maintained "system of control and internal discipline" by taking a complaint to HR.
