General protections breaches "should never be treated as an acceptable risk of doing business", a Federal Circuit Court judge has stressed, in awarding about $90k to "a most difficult and challenging employee".
It would be "much simpler" to consider abandonment of employment as falling within the definition of dismissal under the Fair Work Act, instead of applying the "complicated contractual concept of renunciation", according to a Fair Work Commission member.
An employer had decided an employee wasn't suited to his role before he took sick leave, the Federal Circuit Court has accepted, ruling that sacking him the day he returned to work wasn't unlawful adverse action.
When courts are considering who made a decision to dismiss or take other adverse action against an employee, and for what reasons, identifying and interrogating all decision-makers has become a "live issue", a workplace lawyer says.
A full Federal Court ruling affirms there's a low threshold for what triggers the corporate whistleblower regime, and workplace lawyers say it provides "authoritative guidance" on how employers can discharge their reverse onus of proof.
Dismissing an employee because he wouldn't agree to his image or voice being shared on social media, unless he was paid extra for it, amounted to unlawful adverse action, the Federal Circuit Court has ruled.
General protections claims are the fastest-growing category of applications in the Fair Work Commission, with reforms now underway to stem the tide. Watch this HR Daily Premium webcast where important developments in both procedural issues and case law are discussed.
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.
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.
The Fair Work Commission has rejected that an employee was forced to resign due to unaddressed psychosocial risks, finding her employer was "supportive" and acted in a "timely and comprehensive manner".
Workplace bullying complaints continue to pose significant challenges for employers, including where the behaviour doesn't meet the legal definition of bullying or the threshold to make a claim. Watch this HR Daily Premium webcast to understand key lessons from cases where bullying complaints interact with other claims and issues.
What constitutes "best practice" when managing neurodiversity at work is evolving all the time. Watch this HR Daily Premium webcast to learn how to embed neuroinclusive practices into HR programs and every stage of the employment lifecycle.
