There's a "relatively high threshold" that employers need to meet when taking disciplinary action against an employee for out-of-hours misconduct, a workplace lawyer says.
A Fair Work Commission Deputy President was wrong to state that an employer had to demonstrate a risk of impairment when dismissing a worker who failed a dr-g test, but this didn't affect his overall finding that the sacking was harsh, a full bench has ruled.
A full bench of the Fair Work Commission has set out some minimum requirements for a workplace D&A policy to be considered "intelligible" to the relevant employees, in dismissing an employer's reinstatement appeal.
More than a year after the High Court ruled Qantas took unlawful adverse action against 1,700 of its former employees, the Federal Court has awarded one of them $100k in compensation for non-economic loss alone.
An employee sacked for serious misconduct had no basis to argue a Fair Work Commissioner made inaccurate findings about her or denied her procedural fairness, a full bench has ruled.
"Simple life experience" should have taught an employee not to bully and humiliate his co-worker, according to the Fair Work Commission, but a lack of evidence that he was trained in workplace policies meant his dismissal was harsh.
It was "highly inappropriate" for a worker's paid agent to pursue a general protections claim that had no prospects of success, but the Fair Work Commission says the employer's $80k legal bill appears "excessive".
An employee who was only available to work on a day her employer closed its business was 'dismissed', the Fair Work Commission has ruled, allowing her general protections claim to proceed.
An employer was understandably offended by the suggestion it took adverse action against an employee because she disclosed she had autism, the Fair Work Commission has accepted in dismissing her claim.
A manager was not forced to resign, but rather engaged in a clear strategy of undermining his own return to work because "he wanted to be dismissed", the Fair Work Commission has ruled in rejecting his general protections claim.
Costly legal disputes continue to highlight the many risks employers face when managing, disciplining, or dismissing employees while they are absent, injured or incapacitated. Attend this webinar for an up-to-date review of the legal framework applying to workplace absenteeism, injury and incapacity, and lessons from recent case law.
