A commission has criticised an employee's complaint about a "racist and s-xually inappropriate" Microsoft Teams message, finding it unnecessarily consumed "countless" work hours and thousands of dollars in lost productivity.
A tribunal has criticised Australia Post for its "witch hunt" of an impressionable worker, whose psychological injury stemmed from bored colleagues making jokes at her expense.
It was up to an employee, not his employer, to prove he acted in self-defence during a "violent" out-of-hours altercation, a Fair Work Commission full bench has ruled in overturning an unfair dismissal ruling.
Qantas took unlawful adverse action when deciding to outsource thousands of positions to prevent workers from engaging in industrial action, despite those workers not having a workplace right to take such action at the time, the High Court has ruled.
A Fair Work Commission full bench has accused six employees of engaging in a "sham exercise" when they voted up an enterprise agreement, finding their approval was "entirely lacking in authenticity and moral authority".
A commission has found an employee's attempt to "gee up" a subordinate was not trivial and couldn't go unpunished, even though he wasn't trying to be malicious or aggressive.
In an important ruling analysing vicarious liability, the High Court has upheld an employer's appeal against a $432k damages award for an employee who suffered a psychological injury due to his co-worker's drunken misbehaviour.
Despite "enthusiastic speculation" about flexible work agreements being the "future" of employment, their long-term feasibility is still unknown, and they are not yet an "inalienable" right, a commissioner has said in upholding the rejection of an employee's request.
An employee's "openly derisive" claim that her employer, in rejecting her flexible work request, confused its operational needs with its inability to manage its own workforce, was a "slap in the face", a commission has chastised.
An employee who relied on legal advice and delayed informing his workplace of pending criminal charges has been denied permission to appeal his failed unfair dismissal claim, with a full bench affirming his workplace reporting obligations outweighed his lawyer's advice.
All employers should consider putting in place a workplace s-xual harassment prevention plan, even though such plans are only expressly prescribed in one jurisdiction, according to a risk management expert.
Recent events have shone a spotlight on whistleblowing, placing employers firmly on notice that their response to a protected disclosure could be subject to intense scrutiny. Watch this webcast to understand the role HR plays in this challenging space.
