In a rare instance of the "power imbalance" between employer and employee being reversed, the FWC has found that a worker hired to help a migrant family earn a business visa by running a regional bakery unilaterally reduced his hours without cutting his pay.
A HR manager has failed to block a general protections claim despite insisting the employer did not know that a supervisor with no authority to do so had texted the worker to collect his tools and "see you [in] court if u want".
A manager has won an anti-suit injunction against his employer after it responded to his Federal Circuit and Family Court case seeking unpaid statutory entitlements by filing a cross-claim in a lower court.
A female engineer suing BHP in an adverse action case claims a male colleague told her it was a compliment when he "volunteered" her to take notes at a meeting.
A trainee disability therapist sacked for failing to complete the necessary accreditation has won compensation after the FWC found his employer gave him insufficient time to correct the situation following his "confrontational" response to being stood-down.
Labor Senator Tony Sheldon has hinted the Albanese Government will move quickly to introduce "urgent" legislative changes if the High Court overturns a Federal Court finding that Qantas took unlawful adverse action against nearly 2000 former ground crew when it rejected an in-house tender and outsourced their jobs.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a worker for telling a colleague during an argument that "I'll f-ck you in the a-se", finding that the choice of words went "far beyond" simply swearing in the workplace and constituted s-xual harassment.
The FWC has compensated an employee sacked for threatening a co-worker, finding that his employer failed to act on his prior complaints about the colleague "wanting to fight me in [the] yard".
In a close analysis of what constitutes regular and systematic employment, a senior FWC member has held that a casual trolley collector met the minimum service period to allow him to pursue Bunnings for unfair dismissal, despite "unpredictable" shifts and a contract expressly stating he should not expect ongoing work or guaranteed hours.
In a case expanding the circumstances under which the FWC will not publish a finding, the tribunal has rejected union arguments that it should release its decision so as to potentially "clear the name" of a former BHP worker who committed suicide after hearings into his unfair dismissal claim were completed.