Workers in the clerical and retail industries lodged the most applications for stop-bullying orders in the first three months of 2014, according to the Fair Work Commission's first anti-bullying quarterly report.
An employer that ignored a worker's "clear signs of distress", and then told her she had to return to a role where managers bullied her, has been found liable for her psychological injury.
Breaching an employer's zero-tolerance drug and alcohol policy isn't always grounds for dismissal, according to the Fair Work Commission, which has found a worker who smoked marijuana the night before a ferry incident was unfairly sacked.
A Queensland employer, whose barman hit a customer in the head during an unruly work Christmas party, has lost its appeal against a $1.4 million damages ruling, after the Court of Appeal found the barman acted in the employer's interests.
A union's claim that a drug and alcohol testing clause in an enterprise agreement breaches the personal leave provisions of the Fair Work Act "demonstrates an unrealistic disconnect with reality", the Fair Work Commission has found.
The Fair Work Commission should place little weight on workplace bullying investigations - when determining anti-bullying applications - unless it is satisfied the investigation was conducted "rigorously, impartially and independently", a leading employment lawyer says.
The NSW WCC President has upheld a finding that a deceased worker's unhealthy sedentary lifestyle was linked to her job, and her children are entitled to hundreds of thousands of dollars in workers' compensation.
The Fair Work Commission has outlined a number of working arrangements that aren't covered by its anti-bullying jurisdiction or the model WHS Act, in rejecting a carer's application for stop-bullying orders against Centrelink employees.
Some workers could be bound by the conditions of a stop-bullying order for decades, in theory, with the Fair Work Commission not being required to apply timeframes or expiry dates to orders.
