An Aboriginal corporation has been ordered to pay total compensation of $67,503 to three cultural heritage field officers sacked after failing to prove ancestral connections, including $15,000 in general damages for "emotional upset".
An FWC member should have drawn a software tracking company's attention to the small business fair dismissal code before ordering it to pay $70,000 to a former employee, a full bench has found.
In a case alerting labour hire companies to the dangers of carrying out dismissals at a client's behest, the FWC has opened the way for a casual labour hire mine worker to seek reinstatement after WorkPac took a directive to remove her as "a fait accompli".
A business owner has been hit with a record $125,000 penalty over his company's failure to pay FWC-awarded compensation to an unfairly sacked former employee.
The FWC has criticised an employer for directing a worker to manage her relationship with a "predictably volatile" supervisor, finding she was unfairly dismissed in the wake of a "screaming match" and ordering her reinstatement.
A restaurant that required a chef to work more than 20 unpaid hours a week and summarily sacked him when he sought to pare it back and take leave was "blissfully unaware" of its award obligations, the FWC has found.
In an instructive case on managing conflicts of interest, the FWC has found a money management company had a valid reason to sack a budget specialist who failed to disclose his casino visit to stop a client and friend from blowing his inheritance, but an HR manager's actions rendered it harsh.
In a ruling criticising the practice of diplomats recruiting domestic workers from overseas, the FWC has ordered Iraq's consul-general to pay $20,000 to a Filipina live-in nanny dismissed after raising concerns about her entitlements.
The FWC has described a kennel hand's dismissal as so unfair "even the dogs in the street know" it, putting the labradoodle breeders on notice to take better care of their puppies than they do of the humans they employ.