By Sooraj Sidhu and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal The summary dismissal of a 47 year old employee at a major private hospital in Sydney has been upheld by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) after finding that he sent an Instagram post “of a sexual nature” to a young nurse outside of work hours. This decision […]
By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal When employees are absent from work on sick leave, employers often have to walk a narrow line between the lawful and the unlawful. On the one hand, the employee has the right to be absent on sick leave, and interfering with that right can land you on […]
By Sooraj Sidhu and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal A bus driver and former police officer has won reinstatement to their previous role after being dismissed by his employer on-the-spot for misconduct and unsatisfactory conduct towards the General Manager. Commissioner Donna McKenna, who described the employee as an “impressive and credible witness”, noted that the circumstances […]
By Alex Millman and Lindsay Carroll, NRA Legal When an employee has done the wrong thing, it is natural to feel aggrieved. However put-out you may be, you must always remember to step back from the situation and be objective when responding to misconduct in your business and if appropriate, determining a disciplinary outcome. It […]
By Sid Sidhu, Workplace Relations Advisor, and Emma Treherne, Principal Workplace Relations Advisor, NRA Legal If my casual employees are not guaranteed hours, can I reduce their shifts? Often employers believe that they can reduce the hours provided to a casual employee if they are, or have been, causing issues within the business. Recent case […]
By Alex Millman and Troy Wild, NRA Legal A café supervisor who was dismissed for calling his manager a ‘racist b****’ has been awarded a to-be-determined amount of compensation by the Fair Work Commission. The case highlights how the particular circumstances in which an action was taken can drastically change the outcome. Coffey v QBar […]
By Alexander Millman and Angela Szczepanski, NRA Legal Ms Shahin Tavassoli v Bupa Aged Care Mosman A recent case reminds employers that care must be taken when relying on evidence obtained from workplace surveillance to dismiss an employee, and the need to afford employees procedural fairness even when it appears to be an open-and-shut case. […]
by Angela Szczepanski and Sid Sidhu, NRA Legal Mahajan v Burgess Rawson & Associates Pty Ltd [2017] FCCA 1560 The Federal Circuit Court has ruled in favour of an employee after hearing that her commercial real estate employer, Burgess Rawson and Associates Pty Ltd, had dismissed the pregnant worker for taking time off to manage […]
by Sid Sidhu and Troy Wild, NRA Legal Georgia Sologinkin v Cosmetic Suppliers Pty Ltd T/A Coty [2017] FWC 1838 An employee who made highly offensive comments about numerous clients of the company was found to have been fairly dismissed by the Fair Work Commission (FWC), earlier last month. The accounts manager, who had been […]
Written by Alex Millman and Troy Wild, NRA Legal On 24 April 2017 the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission awarded compensation to a State employee who had been fired after pornographic emails, including images of naked children, were found in her work email account. The employer argued that the employee had committed multiple breaches […]
by Meaghan Spencer and Troy Wild, NRA Legal Staples Australia Pty Ltd has come under fire after Fair Work Commissioner Ian Cambridge determined that the company had an “unduly hasty and largely tokenistic” approach to meeting its redundancy obligations. In July last year, Staples tried to address a one million dollar budget over-run by making […]
by Meaghan Spencer, Workplace Advisor, NRA Legal Company forced to reinstate cleaner despite dismissal not being unjust A contracting company has been ordered by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to redeploy one of its cleaners whom the company summarily dismissed after he refused to wear his uniform as part of an intentional “campaign of disobedience”. […]
by Angela Szczepanski, Senior Associate, NRA Legal Dismissing an employee can be stressful and is often quoted as the ‘worst part of running a business’. As well as the emotional context, it can be a long and timely process to ensure due process is followed. In particular, special care needs to be taken to minimise […]
With the festive season rapidly approaching, businesses are gearing up for Christmas work functions, but as we all know alcohol and employment don’t necessary pair well. When things get ‘out of hand’ at a Christmas party the ‘hangover’ for employers can last well beyond the morning after. We all know that employers are responsible (or […]
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) declined a former crane driver’s application for unfair dismissal as it found that he had drawn inappropriate images on documents and shipping containers as well as displayed threatening behavior towards his superiors. An investigation was conducted by the employer into allegations that the employee had drawn a two-metre-tall male genital […]
In a recent case regarding a human resource manager, manager and a long-serving employee, the Fair Work Commission has found that a better briefing to a manager should have occurred before he dismissed an employee during a meeting. The employee had been working for K&S Freighters Pty Ltd for over 30 years without blemish. The […]
Commissioner Julius Roe ordered PQ Australia to compensate a bullied employee $43,900 for forcing him to resign. The FWC found the employee, was unfairly dismissed before being forced to resign for failing to attend an unnecessary medical appointment to be assessed by the company’s nominated doctor. The employee had previously raised concerns about multiple bullying […]
The demotion of an employee may not in all circumstances meet the meaning of dismissed in section 385 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act). Consideration must be given to the continuation of employment, the whether the demotion imposed a significant reduction in status and payment. The recent case of Phillip Moyle v […]