The Fair Work Commission has emphasised that employers conducting drug tests are not complying with best practice if their managers take samples from employees they directly manage.
The FWC has found it reasonable for Coles Group Supply Chain Pty Ltd to dismiss a worker who tested positive to cannabis but claimed to have consumed it outside what he believed to be the "window of detection".
A long-serving GM Holden employee sacked for working on his investment property while dishonestly claiming workers' compensation has lost his entitlement to retraining and a redundancy payment of up to $180,000 when the company closes its manufacturing operations next year.
The summary dismissal of a worker who returned a positive drug result lacked procedural fairness but this was mitigated by the employer's need to ensure a safe workplace, the FWC has ruled.
An FWC full bench has overturned a "counter-intuitive" decision to compensate a worker dismissed for his blatant disregard of his employer's drug and alcohol and OHS policies.
A HR manager has been fined more than $1,000 by the Federal Circuit Court for the part she played in her employer's provision of insufficient notice when dismissing an injured employee.
A worker with a "dismissive" attitude to OHS who breached his employer's zero alcohol tolerance policy has been compensated because a previous warning was too severe.
A welder's claims that he was "fine" after bingeing on 20 cans of full-strength beer over 12 hours on Australia Day before facing a random breath test at work has failed to impress FWC member Danny Cloghan, who says it "would be greeted with that very Australian saying relating to animal manure".
Despite being lawfully sacked for his inability to return to pre-injury duties, a Qantas baggage handler will be compensated after the FWC found steps leading to the decision were inadequate, confusing and lacked procedural fairness.
