Published 11 February 2020 Minimum employment periods are required for employees for coverage under the unfair dismissal provisions contained in Part 3-2 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the FW Act). These are usually easily defined for permanent or part-time employees, but how are the employment periods considered for casual employees? Not all employees are protected…
Category: Recent Cases
Are you ready for the new annualised salary arrangements taking effect from 1 March 2020?
Published 31 January 2020 In this edition of our newsletter, we take a look at which modern awards are affected by the new annualised salary obligations and the potential operational impact on employers. Under the four yearly review of modern awards, the Fair Work Commission (the FWC) has rendered a decision last July that finalised…
Sleeping Ferry Master was fairly sacked
Published 9 December 2019 Falling asleep at the job may not seem like a valid reason for dismissal in most cases, however the Fair Work Commission has upheld the dismissal of a Ferry Master who fell asleep whilst on duty. In Sclater v Transdev Harbour City Ferries Pty Ltd [2019] FWC 7968, the Fair Work Commission…
Employee reinstated despite beers before shift
Published 29 November 2019 In a recent case the Fair Work Commission has reinstated an employee despite the employee returning a positive alcohol breath test over the company’s Drug and Alcohol Policy limit of 0.00. In Morcos v Serco Australia Pty Ltd [2019] FWC 7675, the Fair Work Commission has reinstated an employee despite the employee accepting a…
Recent case outlines importance for employers to recognise sexual harassment
Recently, in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (the Tribunal), in Kerkofs v Abdallah (Human Rights) [2019] VCAT 259, Ms Kerkofs (the Applicant) was successful in her sexual harassment claim against Mr Abdallah (the First Respondent), both were employees of Parker Manufactured Products Pty Ltd (the Employer). The Applicant claimed the First Respondent made ongoing…
Employer had a valid reason to dismiss a flight attendant who called in sick due to intoxication
Published 14 October 2018 In a recent case, Luke Urso v QF Cabin Crew Australia Pty Limited T/A QCCA [2018] FWC 4436, the Fair Work Commission found the dismissal of a flight attendant because he was highly intoxicated during a layover was not unfair. Mr Urso was employed as a flight attendant with QF Cabin…