The Federal Circuit Court has given some very clear guidance to employers around the steps they must take to determine appropriate award coverage for a particular business or position. This guidance comes from a very interesting case, where a religious organisation formally contested a compliance notice delivered to it by the Fair Work Ombudsman. This […]
The FWO has had its first compliance notice judicially challenged, in a recent case in the Federal Circuit Court. The FWO’s compliance notice required a religious body to back pay an employee nearly $78,000 after the FWO determined that the employee was a cook as opposed to an assistant priest, and as such covered by […]
The Victorian Supreme Court has awarded more than $600,000 in damages to an employee whose pre-existing mental health issues caused her to have a breakdown, after her managers failed to properly consider her condition when handling a conflict between the employee and her supervisor. Facts In this case, the employee (a youth justice worker) claimed […]
The Fair Work Commission has upheld the objection of a state football federation, after one of its junior coaches decided to make an unfair dismissal claim last year. The coach was the head coach of an under-13 girls football side. He was required to attend training sessions a number of times a week, as well […]
After a review spanning some 2 years, 39 days of hearing and 5,900 submissions by all stakeholders, the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission has delivered a decision that sees a reduction in Sunday penalty rates in 4 awards and a reduction in public holiday penalty rates in 5 awards. Sunday Penalty Rates The […]
A manager has been found to have engaged in serious misconduct after threatening to touch a female colleague’s vagina. The conduct occurred at a team building event. During the event, the Applicant (a manager) is alleged to have become aggressive towards a female colleague. One of the other the employees who witnessed the Applicant’s conduct […]
The FWC has dismissed an employee’s unfair dismissal claim, after it found that the Employer (an automotive parts franchise) had grounds to dismiss the employee for serious misconduct. The Employee was terminated after he engaged in three incidents of misconduct over three days. Firstly, it was alleged that the Employee performed a burnout in the […]
The Fair Work Commission has recently handed down another interesting unfair dismissal decision relating to an employee’s inappropriate use of social media. Facts In this case the Applicant posted to his public profile on Facebook a video that showed an obese woman in her underwear dropping her stomach onto the back of a man in […]
The Fair Work Commission has handed down a decision that serves as a reminder to employer’s about some key issues that must be considered when summarily dismissing an employee. In this case, Senior Deputy President O’Callaghan found that a cleaner had engaged in a ‘campaign of disobedience’ when he refused to wear the designated uniform […]
A renowned bus transport company has failed to have a discrimination application dismissed for lacking in substance in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division of NSWCAT heard that the transport company had elected not to employ the Complainant following the Complainant undertaking a medical assessment. The Complainant had applied […]