As part of its 4-yearly review, the Fair Work Commission has made changes to a number of modern awards. The changes are in relation to payment of wages on termination of employment as well as plain language re-drafting of several standard clauses. The changes take effect from the start of the first full pay period […]
This month we look at the new international OHS standard published by Standards Australia. We also discuss the current ‘casual leave’ issue that is set to be considered again by the Federal Court, with a number of parties intervening in a new case brought by Workpac. New OHS standard published The world’s first international OHS […]
This month we examine a case which considered the definition of bullying and also commented on what constitutes reasonable performance management. We also briefly look at a case where an employer dismissed an employee by email. What constitutes bullying under the Fair Work Act 2009 The Fair Work Commission recently dismissed an anti-bullying order sought […]
The Federal Circuit Court has rejected that a security company took adverse action against an obese security guard (‘Applicant’), after the worker claimed he had been discriminated against because of his obesity. The Applicant was engaged to work in a control room at a university campus. As a result of proven performance concerns, the University […]
A crane hire company has been ordered to pay $25,500 in penalties after it was found to have taken adverse action against a union delegate who raised complaints about his pay. The employee claimed that he and his colleagues, who were covered by the Company’s enterprise agreement, were entitled to penalty rates in addition to […]
The Federal Circuit Court has awarded an employee $415,698 in damages, as well as imposing $50,000 worth of civil penalties on an employer following a finding that the employer changed the status of the employee from full-time to part-time as a result of the employee making a workers’ compensation claim. The Court accepted that for […]
An employee who was dismissed for being unable to perform the inherent requirements of her role has failed to establish to the Federal Circuit Court’s satisfaction that the employer dismissed her because she was depressed. Background The employee, who commenced employment with the health services industry employer in 2011, was employed as an on-site Turkish […]
An employee has been successful in a general protections claim following his employer’s decision to terminate him inside the employee’s probation period. Prior to the termination, there was a confrontation between the employee and his supervisor about the employee not being present at his desk. The employee subsequently contacted the employer’s HR department about the […]
The Fair Work Commission has recently found that an employer had taken adverse action against its employee when it unilaterally imposed unreasonable performance targets. The employee was employed by a real estate agency in a number of roles throughout her employment. In May 2014, the employee began what became a long health related absence, which […]
The Federal Circuit Court has recently awarded compensation to a dismissed employee who had worked for four separate but related entities over the course of 8 years. Two of the companies had been deregistered at the time of the employee’s dismissal, while a third was in liquidation. This arrangement was alleged by the employee to […]