The sacking of a worker who never received his show cause notice or letter of termination, because they were sent to the wrong address, has been found to be fair and reasonable, with a commission ruling his non-compliance with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate outweighed any procedural unfairness by his employer.
With recent disasters, ranging from floods to the COVID-19 pandemic, placing extreme mental health demands on business owners and workers, employers have been reminded of the need to create healthy workplaces "from the top", on the release of a free resource.
An Australian study has found a strong psychosocial safety climate (PSC) at an organisational level reduces digital job demands for remote workers and reduces their work-life conflict. It highlights key steps employers can take to increase PSC levels to improve both worker wellbeing and job performance.
A worker who was "strongly encouraged" by his employer to get vaccinated against COVID-19, before sustaining an incapacitating injury from his booster shot, has been denied compensation, under a system where a dispute with "some merit" is enough to block a person's access to benefits.
Two-thirds of employees who work from home experience mild to severe neck, shoulder and lower back pain, while many self-report poorer performance at home than in the office, a study has found, identifying poor home-office ergonomics as the main contributing factor.
A pharmaceutical company that sourced ethanol in bulk to produce hand sanitiser for the COVID-19 pandemic, and disregarded its workers' storage-related safety concerns, has been fined nearly $300,000 after its premises caught fire and the chemical polluted a nearby pond.
Australia is expected to see a surge in flu, respiratory syncytial virus and COVID-19 cases over the next few weeks, and hygiene services experts have called for businesses to protect themselves and their employees by creating safer and more hygienic work environments.
A paramedic who claimed she was unable to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate because of her "flu-like symptoms" has been blocked from pursuing her late unfair dismissal claim, with a Fair Work Commission full bench finding her illness was not a valid reason for her late application or her vaccine non-compliance.
