The pitfalls of self-representation have been highlighted by an FWC full bench that found it would be "futile" to hear a former chief executive's anti-bullying case because his notice of appeal "expressly" indicated he was seeking an unnecessary order.
The FWC has extended time for a BHP joint venture mineworker to lodge a general protections claim challenging his sacking over a failed drug test, but has agreed there is "great weight" to the employer's view that it is essentially an unfair dismissal application in disguise.
In a broad warning to employees mixing social media and work, the FWC has found that a BHP Billiton mineworker was justifiably sacked despite upon realising his error quickly deleting two Facebook posts mistakenly asserting shifts were cancelled.
The FWC has given Arnott's biscuits the go-ahead to introduce urine testing of all employees for drug and alcohol use, while the food giant has agreed to trial a union proposal for workers to take immediate leave without pay if they record a positive from oral or breathalyser self-tests before a shift.
Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews has pledged to create a new labour inspectorate to police wage underpayments, which will offer a competing state-based jurisdiction to the Commonwealth's Fair Work Ombudsman.
A one-time star employee's anti-bullying application has been rejected despite acknowledgment of his "devastation" at being placed on successive performance improvement plans he believed resulted from unfair interpretations of his position description.
The Federal Court, in re-determining part of a decision awarding $150,000 in underpayments to an ex-employee, has held that she is entitled to a year's accident make-up pay as it kept accruing after her employment ended, but says her superannuation accrual ended with her job.
A tribunal has thrown out a union official's claim he was discriminated against on the basis of his psychological condition and industrial activity, instead finding that his dismissal after five months off work followed an "impossible" demand for assurances he wouldn't be sacked for outstanding disciplinary matters.
In a significant decision on the FWC's power to deal with clashes between agreements and state laws, a tribunal member has found that jurisdiction was established by a combination of health and safety considerations and the absence of legislative reference to exclusive arbitrators.
