A manager's "dramatic" shift from supporting an employee to sacking her for serious misconduct was driven by "vindictive personal reasons", the Fair Work Commission has found, in awarding her $56k in compensation.
Accidental underpayments don't constitute the criminal offence of wage theft, but establishing whether a breach was deliberate or accidental is not always straightforward, a lawyer warns.
HR managers should stop worrying about office space being empty some of the time and pay a lot more attention to a far more important metric: "the happiness and wellness" of their workforce, according to a leader at EY.
Meetings to address interpersonal conflict led an employee to believe she was being bullied, a commission has ruled, in rejecting this perception was part of her "delusional" thought processes.
Reframing workplace psychosocial hazards as an industrial relations area would help organisations improve their risk mitigation and management, researchers say.
A Fair Work Commission full bench has denied an employer permission to appeal against reinstating a sacked worker, ruling there were no errors in a previous finding that the dismissal was valid, but unreasonable.
Dismissing an employee by text, without warning and without a valid reason, was "inappropriate and regrettable", the Fair Work Commission has found in ordering compensation.
In a workplace conflict where both employees appeared to give unreliable evidence, the Fair Work Commission has declined to issue stop-bullying orders, ruling the incidents were more about "differing opinions" than "sabotage" and disrespect.
Redundancies are sometimes a necessary part of organisational change, and even well-managed processes can result in claims from departing employees. Watch this HR Daily Premium webcast to understand how to restructure while minimising legal risks and fallout.
The fact that an employee's false bullying allegations against a colleague were just "bluff and bluster" made in the "heat of battle" didn't excuse his conduct, the Fair Work Commission has found in upholding his dismissal.
Some employers have successfully stepped up to the task of managing psychosocial safety, but in many other workplaces, initiatives are falling flat. Join us for an HR Daily webinar to understand what's holding back progress in this critical space and how to move forward.
