The head of the Fair Work Commission's anti-bullying panel has highlighted the key cases in the new jurisdiction's first year, and revealed that many employers are failing to follow their own internal procedures when dealing with bullying complaints.
A major employer-clientele law firm is predicting that unions will become more aggressive in their pursuit of wage and job security claims this year, and that employers will respond in kind by seeking to unilaterally end bargaining negotiations and turning to regulators like the ACCC.
A bank's management of an under-performing lawyer fell short of "the best human resources practice" and was not "entirely beyond criticism", but did not constitute bullying under the Fair Work Act, a senior member of the Fair Work Commission has ruled.
The Fair Work Commission has held that while sacked workers' anti-bullying claims are likely to fail, it could be appropriate to hold them "in abeyance" if the workers were "actively" contesting their dismissal.
The Fair Work Commission has ruled that a childcare worker who received "heavy handed" treatment from her boss and intolerance and low-level anger from a colleague was not bullied under the Fair Work Act, but has recommended that the employer improve its performance management process.
Stevedoring giant DP World was entitled to summarily dismiss an MUA delegate who called a colleague a "f--king lagger" and instructed another worker to lie in a related investigation, and the sacking did not amount to adverse action, the Federal Court has ruled today.
The FWC has again refused to suppress the names of an employer and workers facing allegations of bullying, finding that the principle of open justice meant it shouldn't make confidentiality orders.
A high-level FWC full bench will decide what constitutes being "at work" under the Fair Work Act's bullying regime after hearing argument this morning from three DP World workers, the company, the MUA, ACCI and the AiG.
A senior public servant who claimed his manager told him to "go back where you came from" and treated him like a "slave" while trying to force his dismissal has failed to win anti-bullying orders, with the Fair Work Commission finding his performance was managed in an "ordinary fashion".
Anti-bullying order restricts worker's exercise regime; Adult retail worker pay rates to stay; ILO challenge to Tasmanian IR legislation; and Federal government pilots new training programs.