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.
The FWC has in a book-length decision questioned a former Young Australian Of The Year's wisdom in pursuing an unfair dismissal case that shed light on "potential" fraud committed against the homeless people's charity she founded.
The FWC has found employers are not obliged to keep workers on the payroll because of JobKeeper's availability, but has awarded a manager compensation for unfair dismissal that included 24 weeks of the job subsidy, because retaining him would have been "entirely consistent" with the scheme's objectives.
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.
The FWC has awarded $8000 compensation to an airport employee who transferred sensitive files from his work computer onto a personal USB, finding the employer took a "kitchen sink" approach to allegations used to justify his summary dismissal.
In what stands as a lesson in managing employees with deeply-held grievances, a senior tribunal member has commended a large employer's HR department for its patience in trying to accommodate a "very difficult" worker before his dismissal.
A recruitment company that sought to slash a marketing coordinator's hours by 75% before making her redundant has failed to convince the FWC that it should reduce her payout to zero.
A managing director's attempt to "point-score" during hearings into the dismissal of an employee who feared a gun-owning co-worker has been decried by an FWC commissioner as among the "poorest displays" from a respondent she has encountered in five years on the Commission.
