Employers are being warned not to dismiss complaints they believe are misconceived or lacking in substance, with a recent case showing that doing so may put them on the wrong side the Fair Work Act's general protections provisions.
A senior executive who muttered "offensive" words during an out-of-hours incident has won claims for adverse action and breach of contract, with the Federal Circuit Court chastising his employer for its incorrect allegations and "misleading" investigation.
An employee has accused his employer of "recklessly endangering" him when it rejected his request to take time off for an appointment during the busy festive season.
An employee who refused to wear a uniform that made him feel like he was "going to die" in hot weather was constructively dismissed, the Fair Work Commission has found.
General protections claims are increasingly in the spotlight as more and more employees seek to exercise their workplace rights and challenge employers' decisions. Watch this HR Daily Premium webcast to understand how to navigate this area.
Technical issues that prevented an employee from working from home for a few days were "hardly of sufficient gravity" to force him to resign, the Fair Work Commission has found.
An employer has failed to prove an executive followed through with her threats to resign, with the Fair Work Commission finding no reasonable person would have understood her words to mean she was leaving her job.
An employer's "poor and uninformed" response to a pregnant manager's working-from-home request did not amount to a constructive dismissal, the Fair Work Commission has found.
An employer has failed to prove it sacked a long-serving employee for pushing a colleague, with the Federal Circuit Court finding a "close nexus" between its decision and his workplace complaints.
