In an important interlocutory ruling, the Federal Court has today restrained mining giant BHP Coal from stopping a reinstated labour hire mineworker returning to the job at its Bowen Basin coal mine.
A tribunal member has strongly rebuked a legal firm for its "unprofessional" behaviour in missing a deadline to file material, lamenting that unlike golf tee times, FWC directions cannot be changed "at a whim".
Toll's failure to specify that it would not recognise a worker's prior service with a labour hire company has left it open to his unfair dismissal claim, with the FWC finding he met the minimum employment period as the transfer of his work established a connection between his new and old employer.
A large employer that argued that it needed an external lawyer because it recently made its HR director redundant has been permitted legal representation in an unfair dismissal case that the FWC found will involve complex jurisdictional argument.
The FWC has found a major civil construction company had insufficient evidence to sack for misconduct a worker it accused of driving a heavy truck towards a co-worker in a reckless manner on Sydney's WestConnex road project.
An FWC full bench has reserved its decision on an unfair dismissal appeal by a Qantas flight attendant who attributed a drunken episode on a layover to cavalier bartending.
A member of a "very large" employer's six-strong "lean" HR team has convinced the FWC that complex argument over whether a sacked self-represented worker is an employee or contractor justifies external legal representation.
The FWC has substantially reduced the compensation payout to an underpaid sacked 457 visa worker because ordering a larger amount might have threatened his employer's viability.
The FWC has ordered a labour hire company to return a casual mineworker to her former position at a BHP Coal mine, despite late evidence that the mining giant that ordered her removal won't consider reinstatement.
A senior FWC member has given short shrift to four Patrick Projects workers who blamed their no-show at an unfair dismissal hearing on a "double booking" by the Commission.
