After wrongly equating all bullying with serious misconduct, a Fair Work Commissioner has, on redetermination, ruled that an employee's behaviour met the definition, and warranted his employer's chosen disciplinary action.
Secretly working in a second job and being dishonest after it was discovered constituted serious misconduct, the Fair Work Commission has found in upholding an employee's summary dismissal.
It was "difficult to understand" how an employee's private sexual conversations with someone outside of work became a work-related matter, a commission has commented in upholding his appeal.
The Fair Work Commission has considered in detail what constitutes sexual harassment, and what doesn't, in upholding the dismissal of an employee who denied his messages about "love" and requests for a date had any sexual element.
The "destabilising" effect an employee had on the workplace was the reason for her termination, and not the bullying complaint she filed just before it, the Federal Circuit Court has ruled in rejecting her adverse action claim.
A manager's withdrawal from a "fair and reasonable" performance management process left her employer with no choice but to sack her, or it risked others disregarding its directions in the future, the Fair Work Commission has ruled.
After being ordered to reinstate an employee sacked for physical violence, an employer has failed to convince a Fair Work Commission full bench that the earlier decision applied the wrong legal test for self-defence.
The Fair Work Commission has rejected that an employee was unfairly dismissed for physically assaulting a coworker, despite flaws in the termination process and the overall harshness of the decision.
Ernst & Young has defended terminating a senior partner who was charged with assault after hours spent drinking with staff and clients, on the basis his conduct was likely to harm the firm's interests.
Workplace bullying complaints continue to pose significant challenges for employers, including where the behaviour doesn't meet the legal definition of bullying or the threshold to make a claim. Watch this HR Daily Premium webcast to understand key lessons from cases where bullying complaints interact with other claims and issues.
What constitutes "best practice" when managing neurodiversity at work is evolving all the time. Watch this HR Daily Premium webcast to learn how to embed neuroinclusive practices into HR programs and every stage of the employment lifecycle.