Requesting medical information about an absent employee was lawful and reasonable under his contract, and his refusal to grant access warranted summary dismissal, the Fair Work Commission has ruled.
It was "fanciful" for an HR professional to defend forwarding confidential work information to his personal email, according to the Fair Work Commission, rejecting that his dismissal "did not fit the crime".
When an employee discloses that they have a neurodivergent condition, there are certain steps it's advisable for their employer to take, and plenty that they should avoid, a workplace lawyer says.
Secretly recording workplace conversations and disseminating them to colleagues was "sneaky, deceitful and unfair", the Fair Work Commission has ruled, finding the employee in question "needed to be stopped".
AI systems used for employment-related purposes should be classified as "high risk", and employers should specifically be banned from making HR decisions without human oversight, a parliamentary inquiry has recommended.
An attempt to block access to mental health records in a dispute about an employee's physical condition has failed, with a Tribunal refusing to "divorce" the two issues.
An employer acted "in good faith" when it emailed staff about an employee's health after she suffered a medical episode at work, but it nonetheless breached her privacy, a commission has found.
An employer's right to monitor company property is complicated, especially when employees use devices for both work and private purposes, so clear policies are essential, a workplace lawyer says.
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.