A law firm chief executive's "abrasive" email to 80 lawyers warning that "the lion will soon be catching up with any sick zebras" has come back to bite him, the FWC finding that he unfairly dismissed a senior associate given two weeks' notice for allegedly threatening legal action.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of NUW NSW organiser Nick Belan over admissions to the Heydon Royal Commission he misused his union credit card, slamming his "complete disregard" for his duty.
The FWC has ruled that an organisation's failure to provide notice to a poorly-performing finance manager rendered her dismissal unfair, but has refused to order compensation because she "deliberately deceived" it about her qualifications.
"No human resources specialist would have recommended" the manner in which a company dismissed a worker after his "appalling conduct" when he swore in a vulgar way at his boss, the FWC has found.
A Catholic school teacher sacked after being charged with indecent assault, of which he was later acquitted, has been reinstated after the FWC rejected the Sydney Archdiocese's argument that his automatic loss of clearance to work with children frustrated his employment.
An FWC member has observed that a business with more than 40 employees "is large enough to warrant a HR manager and a HR officer" in a case where an employer sought leave to challenge its own HR manager's recollection of events.
The long-serving 65-year-old manager of one of the country's largest non-profit community legal centres has won her job back, with a 20% pay hike, after the FWC found the organisation's management committee deliberately designed a restructuring process to scuttle her candidacy.
The FWC has identified "deficiencies" in management of redundancies by a mining services company that replaced its employee relief pool with on-hire workers, counselling that it should have given greater consideration to quarantining some positions for redeployees.
The Federal Court has rejected claims an employer took adverse action against a dentist it threatened to sack for writing "pugnacious" emails, redirecting mail and refusing to attend disciplinary meetings, ruling that the last two actions amounted to him repudiating his employment contract.
