An ASX-listed company failed to meet its own standards for investigating alleged misconduct when it neglected to interview two key witnesses and relied upon a manager's inaccurate account of a worker's response to accusations, the FWC has found.
In a decision highlighting the challenges of managing remote workers during a pandemic, the FWC has awarded compensation to a salesperson dismissed after a director took exception to her attitude during a teleconference and drew negative conclusions about her productivity after scrutinising her Instagram posts.
The FWC has upheld the dismissal of a patrolling council worker accused of "time fraud", despite finding that her supervisor was "asleep at the wheel" in overlooking GPS data revealing that she regularly started late and visited her partner's home during work hours.
A HR manager whose Christian faith led to him withdrawing an unfair dismissal claim after belatedly accepting he had been genuinely made redundant due to a coronavirus-related downturn has failed to win more time for a second application lodged upon learning new personnel had apparently filled his former role.
The FWC has reminded employers that when it comes to dismissals, even "difficult" workers are entitled to natural justice, awarding compensation to an employee summarily sacked by email after repeatedly abusing his manager.
The FWC has taken the TWU to task for botching the redundancy of a long serving Victorian/Tasmanian industrial administrator, sacked on the spot to cut costs in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
A senior FWC member has extended time for an unfair dismissal claim for a retail worker dealing with domestic violence, illness, homelessness and a lack of funds, acknowledging her "true hardship, genuine struggle the likes of which I do not often see".
The FWC has upheld BHP's sacking of a mineworker who twice defecated in an active drill hole, despite finding it unavoidable on one occasion due to his urgent and explosive diarrhoea.
An FWC full bench has held that it is not empowered to rule on a disbarred lawyer's claim that a senior member is unfit to hold office, but has remitted his unfair dismissal case to another member after finding he was denied procedural fairness.
