The Fair Work Commission has ordered an employer to halt a workplace investigation and refrain from taking any disciplinary action against an employee until it determines her stop-bullying application.
Employers can take one of two paths when determining how to handle cross-complaints that arise during workplace bullying investigations, a specialist says.
Mediation following s-xual harassment complaints might be necessary to ensure employees understand appropriate behaviour and communication in the workplace, but it can be risky to force parties to be involved, an investigations specialist warns.
Doctors rarely elaborate on questions by choice, so if employers want detail from an independent medical examiner's report they should be prepared to work for it, a lawyer says.
An organisation's "sensible" dismissal of a long-serving employee who breached its drug and alcohol policy serves as a lesson for all employers, according to a workplace lawyer.
The Fair Work Commission has described as "perplexing" an HR manager's decision to continue a disciplinary meeting after an employee became emotional, and then sack her as she walked out the door.
Two investigation letters, sent to an employee after a workplace assault, aggravated her psychiatric injuries but didn't amount to a duty of care breach, an appeal court has ruled.
Employers that refer to the broader organisational impacts of social media misconduct when deciding on disciplinary responses might be better placed to defend their actions, an employment lawyer says.
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.
