Dairy cooperative Norco claims it sacked an HR advisor because she told colleagues its board was considering dismissing its new chief executive and warned them they were on his "hit list", rather than in retaliation for her role in probing complaints against him.
The FWC has upbraided construction company Hansen Yuncken for its "callous" and unfair sacking of a "naïve" trainee who nonetheless provided it with a valid reason by insisting on indefinite unpaid leave to avoid lengthy public transport commutes during COVID-19.
Observing that "you can only 'lead a horse to water' so many times", the FWC has after nearly a year dismissed what it described as a former university employee's largely incompetent unlawful dismissal claim.
A worker sacked after allegedly masturbating at work when he claimed he was scratching a persistent rash between his pubic bone and belly button has failed to establish that his employer discriminated against him on the basis of an impairment.
In further evidence of shifting workplace standards, the chief executive of ASX-listed Cleanaway Waste has resigned after last year volunteering to forgo $2 million in performance-linked shares following complaints about his "overly assertive behaviour".
In a case likely to be closely watched by employers considering mandatory coronavirus vaccinations, the FWC will probe whether Ozcare unfairly sacked a long serving care assistant who refused a compulsory flu shot on allergy grounds, while the Commission has also weighed-in on the contentious issue of compulsory jabs for Santas.
The FWC has praised the CSIRO's approach to the dismissal of a scientist accused of threatening students he supervised, describing him as a "peddler of false allegations" who sought to characterise almost every interaction with a superior as bullying.
An ABC makeup artist who claims her Lyme disease makes it unsafe to wear an anti-coronavirus mask and wants to instead don a shield is suing the broadcaster for discriminatory adverse action after it allegedly removed her from its roster.
Transition leave, "all-gender" toilets and training on LGBTQ issues signal to transgender employees that it is safe to come out in the workplace, according to employer support program Pride in Diversity.
