Despite being one of Australia's largest employers, Coles has successfully argued its HR team lacks the skills required to defend a complex unfair dismissal claim. Also in this article, an employer publicly apologises for employment law breaches; and more.
An employer was wrong to sack an employee whose public critiques breached its code of conduct when he had a right to express himself freely under its enterprise agreement, a court has ruled.
An external email implying an employee was sacked for "disciplinary reasons" was defamatory, a court has ruled in awarding him more than $230k in damages.
An employee's unsuccessful return to work was not in any way his employer's fault, the Federal Court has ruled, finding it "bent over backwards" to make reasonable adjustments once it became aware of his mental illness.
The Fair Work Commission has ordered the Australian Workers' Union to back down on a bargaining ultimatum that it found was based on an irrelevant grievance, breaching good faith bargaining obligations.
A long-serving employee could have avoided dismissal had she been honest about drinking on the job, the Fair Work Commission has ruled. Also in this article: the five characteristics of self-disruptive leaders; organisations lack change-readiness; and more.
Salary projections for top HR managers are as much as $50k higher than a year ago, according to Robert Half's 2019 guide. Also in this article, the FWC has rejected that a casual employee's dismissal was a genuine redundancy; and more.
An employer has successfully defended dismissing an employee for supplying illicit drugs in the workplace, security breaches and possessing porn, despite his claim its procedures were flawed.
The new reality of workplace compliance enforcement is that large, sophisticated employers are regularly being caught out for inadvertent breaches, says former Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James.
An employee who claimed HR meetings were a "direct cause" of his psychiatric condition has been denied compensation, after a commission found the HR department did everything it could to assist him.
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.
