A senior FWC member has delivered a withering assessment of a large employer's HR practises in handling the resignation of a worker told by a trainer he wasn't wanted because he was "black".
An academic sacked after criticising climate research is considering a High Court challenge after a full Federal Court quashed a finding that James Cook University's code of conduct is "subordinate" to intellectual freedom protections.
An employer that cut a manager's wages by 15% due to COVID-19, but then restored her old rate when it made her redundant, has failed to establish that her pay exceeded the high-income threshold because to do otherwise would allow "manipulation" to deny her the chance to challenge her dismissal.
Qantas has launched a Federal Court case against the FAAA to clarify whether it can keep paying fortnightly penalty rates in arrears while receiving JobKeeper, as the ASU accuses it of "stealing" by counting them against the wrong top-up period.
An HR manager who resigned from her job has been ordered to give evidence in the case of an injured worker who claims she "smirked" when informing him at his dismissal meeting that he would not be getting any further support.
A full Federal Court led by Chief Justice James Allsop has expressed disquiet about how employment relationships involving labour hire companies and the rising gig economy are assessed, noting that only respect for decisions by other appeal courts prevented it reaching a different conclusion about a backpacking labourer's status.
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.
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.
