A Jehovah's Witness's ineptitude and expectation he should be treated "deferentially" at work, rather than any religious discrimination, resulted in his dismissal from a labouring job after seven weeks, a court has found.
A major gas supplier has been ordered to reinstate a left-handed worker whose primary duties involved lifting five-kilogram cylinders, after basing his dismissal on an assessment that right shoulder and neck pain meant he could lift no more than 20kgs.
A full Federal Court has upheld the dismissal of a senior lawyer who publicly criticised government clients of his firm, finding that repeatedly disobeying reasonable directions to desist trumped his right to express a political opinion.
The FWC has upheld Star Casino's sacking of a food and beverage server who said he tapped a colleague's bottom in an act of comradery, accused three workmates of entrapping him and threatened to "raise hell" for his employer.
The Federal Court has today ordered the AWU to pay an $18,000 penalty for pressing charges under its rules against two members who refused to support industrial action against Orica.
In the wake of the UK's employment tribunal ruling that "ethical veganism" is a protected philosophical belief in the workplace, a Seyfarth Shaw partner says that there might be scope under state and federal discrimination laws to advance a similar claim in Australia.
The FWC has rejected allegations that a female supervisor's description of a worker as a "big threatening scary man" amounted to s-xual discrimination, finding no evidence that he was treated less favourably because he was a male.
A tribunal has held that a commander discriminated against officers he described as a "close knit friendship group of homos-xual like-minded" police in a complaint of possible drug use, while clearing the NSW Police Force of any discrimination in its handling of the allegations.
In a decision pointing out the multiple failures of an upmarket Adelaide supermarket to properly handle a juice bar worker's complaint that "the chef just touched my arse", a tribunal has ordered the company and her former colleague to jointly pay her $30,000 in damages.
The FWC has upheld the dismissal of an Energy Australia employee who told one colleague she could not get pregnant due to her sexuality and suggested to another that he was related to Deepak Chopra because of his Indian descent.