An employer has been cleared to investigate an employee's out-of-hours conduct, after the Fair Work Commission accepted it held genuine concerns about suffering reputational harm.
It was "extraordinarily insensitive" to tell an employee to be "inclusive of all opinions", including racist ones, the Fair Work Commission has found in unfair dismissal proceedings.
The way a manager responded to misconduct allegations gave his employer "no reason to hope" he would comply with its code of conduct in future, a commission has found in rejecting his unfair dismissal claim.
A "most unsatisfactory" approach to substantiating misconduct allegations has resulted in unfair dismissal compensation for an employee, whose aggressive behaviour caused a P&C manager to take stress leave.
In dismissing the appeal of an employee sacked for code of conduct and privacy breaches, a Fair Work Commission full bench has rejected that the absence of an independent investigation rendered an employer's termination process unfair.
It wasn't reasonable for an employer to rely on a manager's "eyewitness" account of a workplace assault, given he then "took absolutely no action, and continued on with the working day", a commissioner has ruled.
It was unreasonable to summarily dismiss an employee for stealing food from her workplace, without unequivocal evidence that she didn't intend to pay for the items she ate, the Fair Work Commission has ruled.
A sacked employee has won reinstatement despite his employer's objections, with the Fair Work Commission accepting he could continue advocating for his jailed partner without adversely affecting its reputation.
Despite an employee's efforts to cast an email he sent in a different light, a commission has found it wasn't about "wishing everyone a happy new year" but rather was "extremely inappropriate" and warranted his dismissal.
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.
