A full bench of the Fair Work Commission has upheld the reinstatement of an employee who was sacked for taking medically prescribed cannabis, despite his employer's appeal on workplace safety grounds.
Maintaining a beard was not "merely a matter of personal preference", according to a Roman Catholic employee, who claimed his employer discriminated against him when it denied him a personal protective equipment exemption.
The seven-figure damages award arising from a mishandled termination process serves as an extra reminder for employers to consider the interplay between employment contracts and company policies and procedures, a workplace lawyer says.
It was unfair to summarily dismiss an employee who had a "genuine misunderstanding" of what his employer required, regardless of his serious misconduct, according to the Fair Work Commission.
A potential inconsistency in an employer's D&A policy did not undermine its dismissal of a worker who had breached it three times, a full bench of the Fair Work Commission has ruled.
Failing to disclose use of medicinal marijuana clearly breached an employer's policy, but the employee didn't act with "malevolence", the Fair Work Commission has ruled in ordering his reinstatement.
An employer's failure to include a critical safety rule in its 'consolidated' D&A manual has undermined its objection to reinstating a worker sacked for breaching its policy.
In finding today that the risk of an employee's psychiatric injury was a "serious possibility" after his botched dismissal process, the High Court has nonetheless determined not to rule on whether employers' duty of care extends to disciplinary and termination events.
The High Court has restored a $1.44 million damages award to an employee who had a "catastrophic" reaction to his misconduct dismissal, with the majority ruling that when the employer didn't follow its disciplinary policy, it breached the worker's contract.
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.
