An employee made "unparticularised, untrue and potentially defamatory allegations" against her manager in a bid to stop her performance management process, the Federal Circuit Court has found.

Few employers understand the extent to which "childcare disruption" drives unplanned leave in their workforce, leading to a lack of support that also undermines their gender equality efforts, according to an executive with first-hand experience of the problem.

Reducing a casual employee's shifts amounted to a dismissal, and denying her an opportunity to respond to the decision rendered it harsh, unjust and unreasonable, the Fair Work Commission has found.

After initially throwing out his claim, the Fair Work Commission has found a mentally unwell employee was dismissed when his employer accepted his resignation, and that his circumstances made this "unquestionably harsh".

It's difficult for workplaces to help employees experiencing FDV if they don't know what signs to look out for, and some are easy to miss, a support and advocacy specialist says.

An employee has failed to prove criticisms of his performance were "misconceived", with the Fair Work Commission finding his dismissal was fair, even though elements of his performance improvement plan were questionable.

It was "disgraceful" for an employer to retain a director on its board after substantiating s-xual harassment allegations against him, the Fair Work Commission has found.

Sponsorship is one of the top drivers of career advancement, but when conducted informally it tends to "favour the bold", placing employees who are quiet achievers at a disadvantage, an experienced talent leader says.

An employee whose general protections claim was struck out as an abuse of process has won leave to appeal, after the Federal Circuit Court accepted his contentions of bias had sufficient prospects of success.

Premium news wrap: Employer's rejection of WFH request upheld; out-of-hours misconduct lacked employment nexus; upward bullying ignored, mislabelled; and more.