The FWC has upheld Sydney Trains' dismissal of a long-serving station manager for breaching its code of conduct when he failed to disclose serious criminal charges, including possession of more than two kilograms of cannabis he claimed to be holding "for a friend".
Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher has paid tribute to outgoing Public Service Commissioner Peter Woolcott, who has announced that he will retire when his five-year term ends.
A Serco prison dog handler's refusal to cooperate with a HR manager he accused of conducting a fishing expedition, covertly recording their interview and claiming in front of an inmate that he had evidence to "crumble the empire" warranted his summary dismissal, the FWC has held.
The FWC has rejected an unvaccinated child protection officer's faith-based challenge to her sacking, despite claims that requiring her to get a COVID-19 jab is akin to asking a Muslim worker "to have injections that s/he considered not Halal".
In a decision exploring what constitutes a disciplinary investigation, a FWC full bench has quashed a finding that a public transport agency must pay a group of train drivers blocked from attending work after failing to comply with its COVID-19 vaccination policy.
The FWC has upheld the sacking of a disability services manager for including false information on a form, leading to her employer improperly claiming fees and endangering its federal funding.
The FWC has found that a HR manager who quit after her employer changed her responsibilities was not forced to resign, noting that although she had to report to a different manager, "a change in a reporting line does not constitute constructive dismissal".
Australian workplace laws have a "legislative preference" for registered unions to act as a "specific vehicle" for workers seeking to enforce their rights under industrial instruments, the Federal Court has heard.
In returning a worker to her job and restoring most of her lost pay, finding the policy the worker breached "might make sense to copyright lawyers and some IT specialists, but probably no one else" the FWC has cautioned that "employer policy documents and manuals must be accessible, understandable and reasonable in their terms".
In considering the case of a worker sacked for failing to tell his employer about his licence suspension and then lying about it, a NSW IRC member has found that his length of service "'cuts both ways' – the longer an employee’s period of service, the more they can be expected to be aware of the conduct expected of them by their employer".