Employers are now firmly on notice that when they're considering a major workplace change, they need to assess the risk of psychosocial hazards potentially arising from it, a lawyer says.
A court has thrown out a novel adverse action claim, in which an employee argued he was refused a job on the basis of a physical disability, while also denying that he had such a disability.
The Federal Court has rejected both the "bland explanation" an employee received for his dismissal and his employer's later argument that he was underperforming, finding instead that he was sacked for exercising a workplace right.
The evidence submitted to back up a misconduct dismissal went no further than "undated letters that made vague references to concerns", which an employer appeared to have accepted "at face value", the Fair Work Commission has ruled.
It was unfair to sack an employee who didn't immediately provide evidence to support her bereavement leave request, the Fair Work Commission has ruled, in chastising an employer for its unreasonable response to a traumatic situation.
The Federal Circuit Court has refused to lift an employee's suspension without pay during his investigation for misconduct, despite the employer's "inordinate delay" indicating a likelihood of unlawful adverse action.
The Fair Work Commission's decision to unilaterally amend three enterprise agreements before approving them highlights problems with the bargaining regime and with the restrictive part-time employment rules in many modern awards, employer representatives say.
An employee sacked for aggressive and threatening conduct has won reinstatement, after the Fair Work Commission found his employer failed to consider his challenging personal circumstances before dismissing him.
An employer has failed to prove it wasn't liable for an employee's psychological injury, which a commission found didn't just result from a redeployment process but from the strain of supporting affected colleagues through it.
When a manager told an employee he wanted to chat to him, but wouldn't "hold a gun" to his head, it was clearly not a threat to his safety, the Fair Work Commission has ruled in a constructive dismissal dispute.
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.
