Browsing: Termination

A white-collar worker has unsuccessfully challenged her dismissal for refusing to provide a urine sample for a drug and alcohol test for "personal medical reasons", with a commission stressing that office-based staff aren't "immune" from drug-related injury risks.

A BHP company has been criticised, by a commission, for seeking to "bundle" issues to "have enough material" to sack a worker who complained about safety matters. But the dismissal was ultimately upheld over a solitary but significant safety breach.

A commission has rejected an employer's claims that reinstating a worker to his safety critical role, after it unfairly dismissed him for engaging in an altercation with a member of the public not wearing a face mask, was inappropriate because of the negative impact this could have on his mental health.

A commission has rejected a "frightened elderly" worker's claim she was unfairly dismissed after pointing a pair of industrial scissors at a co-worker. She claimed she was provoked and reacted instinctively with a "fight or flight" response.

A commission has overturned a worker's dismissal, and awarded him 21 weeks' wages, after finding his employer unfairly sacked him for his first safety breach in its efforts to draw "a line in the sand" with its new mobile phone use policy.

A full Federal Court has quashed a $5.2 million award to a senior manager who was sacked after making bullying complaints. The Court ordered a retrial to consider his employer's stated reasons for terminating his employment, including that he created a culture of fear in his team.

A commission has rejected an incapacitated worker's claim that his well-resourced employer should have covered his long-term absence with temporary staff while he recovered from his injuries, instead of dismissing him.

An employer and its director have been handed multiple penalties for sacking a worker after he exercised his WHS right to refuse to perform an unsafe delivery task.

A commission full bench has upheld a finding that a health and safety representative was not entitled, under WHS laws, to be paid for attending the disciplinary meetings of a colleague, and his illegitimate attempt to claim this payment was an "abuse" of a "vitally important role".

In an important ruling on out-of-hours conduct, the Fair Work Commission has ordered the reinstatement of a safety-critical worker who was sacked after he was caught drink driving with a blood alcohol concentration four times over the legal limit.