A recent case before the Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal, Ferris v State of Victoria [2018] VSCA 240, serves as a reminder for employers that they can be found guilty of unlawful discrimination even if they were unaware of their employee’s disability, or the discriminatory effect of its requirements on individual employees.
Author: Staff Writer
Will the Fair Work Act protect a Cricket Australia employee’s right to tweet her political opinion?
Earlier in August, Fairfax broke the story of a Cricket Australia employee, Angela Williamson, allegedly sacked for criticising via Twitter the Tasmanian government’s policy on access to abortion services. It’s become a PR nightmare for Cricket Australia with the news of Ms Williamson’s dismissal doing far greater damage to Cricket Australia’s reputation than Ms Williamson’s…
Playing with fire: The real implications of Shorten’s proposal to reverse penalty rate decision
In May 2016 Bill Shorten said, speaking to the ABC, that a government proposing to legislate penalty rate outcomes was “playing with fire”.
Dismissals of badly behaved employees declared unfair by Fair Work Commission
Recent decisions by the Fair Work Commission have emphasised the need to afford employees procedural fairness throughout the termination process, even where there is clear and compelling evidence of serious misconduct. The below three cases, decided in June and July 2018, serve as a reminder to employers that despite having a valid reason for dismissal,…
Why method of dismissal needs to be reviewed by the Commission
According to a recent case of Ms Anita Cachia v Scobel Pty Ltd (2018) FWC 2648, the Fair Work Commission confirmed that employees should only be dismissed by phone, text or email in “rare circumstances”.
#TimesUp on inappropriate workplace behaviours
The Fair Work Commission is showing little tolerance for inappropriate workplace behaviour in the #metoo era. A number of Unfair Dismissal decisions before the Fair Work Commission this year reflect that the #metoo movement is gaining traction in Australia, with employers beginning to adopt a much higher standard of what is appropriate in the workplace, and…