A senior member of the Fair Work Commission has reinstated a Coles forklift driver who was involved in a fight with a colleague, finding his dismissal harsh given his good record over 18 years of employment and his relatively passive role in the altercation.
A Toll subsidiary was justified in dismissing a Gorgon fuel terminal officer for falsifying a safety document, despite the fact that he was instructed to do so by a company OHS advisor, the Fair Work Commission has found.
The need for employers to consider the individual circumstances of employees taking industrial action before they institute disciplinary action has been demonstrated in a FWC finding that a company unfairly dismissed a crane driver who belatedly joined an unlawful stop-work meeting.
Pacific National was justified in sacking a long-serving train driver who was 120 seconds away from colliding with another train, after failing to see and respond to two signals, the Fair Work Commission has found.
A senior FWC member has strongly endorsed legal representation of parties in hearings, saying that with the rise of self-representation, the involvement of legal practitioners is "more often than not, a welcome relief".
A NSW public servant who admitted touching the breasts of five women during a 2012 Christmas party has won his job back after the NSW IRC found he was treated more harshly than a senior manager who was only demoted.
A Flinders University analyst who argued that she was dismissed to avoid an investigation of her workplace bullying allegations has failed to convince a Fair Work Commission full bench she should be able to appeal the rejection of her unfair dismissal claim.
The Federal Court has dismissed a stevedoring company's challenge to the interim reinstatement of a MUA delegate, despite acknowledging the company's belief that the orders undermined its authority to manage workplace bullying and harassment.
An employee who lodged an unfair dismissal claim one day late after initially making a complaint about his sacking to the Fair Work Ombudsman has failed to overturn the FWC's refusal to extend time.
In an important decision, a Fair Work Commission full bench has ruled that regular overtime can be classified as earnings when determining whether the remuneration of workers making unfair dismissal claims is below the statutory limit.