The FWC has reinforced the importance of dismissals being communicated face to face after finding that a worker's claim she never received an emailed termination letter had to be put down to an "unexplained vagary of cyberspace".
An ASX-listed investment house that summarily dismissed an executive director without explanation must pay $1.1 million in damages, after the absence of a signed contract left a court to assess her implied bonus and notice terms.
An employer and director have been hit with near-maximum fines totalling $60,000 in recognition of the seriousness of the "contrived" dismissal of an OHS representative who raised safety concerns with the workplace regulator.
In a significant decision unsettling the FWC's approach to general protections applications, a full Federal Court has ruled that a Commission bench "misconstrued" limitations on the tribunal's powers to first establish whether workers have been dismissed before considering such matters.
"Fair go" endures despite pandemic IR changes, says FWC; Guard reinstated, but demoted; and FWC backs sacking of worker offended by supervisor's tongue-lashing.
A long-serving pilot thought to have spent more than $13,500 contesting his redundancy has been awarded compensation of one week's pay, after the FWC held it was not genuine due to a lack of consultation.
A prison officer has successfully challenged a finding that he was fairly dismissed for using excessive force on a prisoner with a psychiatric illness, an FWC full bench holding that Victoria's Department of Justice lacked a valid reason.
A labour hire company has failed to win costs against an unrepresented worker who pursued his unfair dismissal claim through four adverse findings in the FWC and Federal Court, a judge ruling that the employer didn't help its cause by declining to provide an interpreter and by filing confusing and irrelevant material.
A bus driver who replied to a customer complaint by writing "f--k off I know nothing" on his employer's response form did not commit serious misconduct justifying instant dismissal, but his hampering of other employees performing business-critical tasks warranted his sacking, the FWC has found.
A casual waitress who filed an unfair sacking claim almost 50 days after her employer sent her a dismissal letter and removed her from JobKeeper does not need an extension as she was unaware of the development, the FWC has held.
