An academic has welcomed a significant FWC full bench finding that a worker's refusal to participate in fingerprint scanning did not justify his dismissal and warns that many employers lack awareness of their legal obligations and the potential consequences of biometric technology.
The Federal Circuit Court has ordered indemnity costs against two casual employees who refused offers to settle their adverse action and award breach cases for $10,000 and maintained their demands for $95,000 payouts.
One of Australia's largest employers has convinced the FWC that it should have access to external legal representation to defend its dismissal of a self-represented employee accused of stealing $400, because its in-house legal and HR personnel lack expertise in IR advocacy.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a Telstra business centre's IT technician accused of supplying drugs, accessing p-rnography, sending the director's confidential documents outside the company and remotely locking the entire workplace out of the network during an investigation into his conduct.
The FWC has upheld the dismissal of a 63-year-old male employee who sent text messages calling a 37-year-old male colleague his "bitch" and "toy boy" and threatened to "molest" him and squeeze his testicles until it made him cry.
An experienced Qantas flight attendant who surreptitiously downed a quarter of a bottle of vodka on an 11-hour flight has failed to overturn her dismissal, with the FWC agreeing with the airline that she breached critical safety standards before trying to lie her way out of trouble.
The CFMMEU's code of conduct requiring officers to "publicly defend" colleagues, refrain from casting aspersions and deal with all concerns internally forms the basis of the union's defence in a court case involving two former organisers who claim they were ousted for whistleblowing in a media interview.
The FWC has upheld the dismissal of a National Australia Bank employee for fraudulent lending practices, rejecting her assertion she had been made a "scapegoat" for the bank's Hayne Royal Commission woes.
The FWC has upheld fashion designer Alex Perry's dismissal of a long-serving patternmaker/sample machinist for threatening and intimidating behaviour towards his female colleagues, including an HR manager he described as "nothing".
A Northern Territory council has overcome union opposition to retain its right to legal representation in a "highly contested" argument over an night patrol officer's reinstatement.
