WORKPLACE MENTAL HEALTH: Another reason to support, rather than stigmatise, our people who self-report personal issues and seek our help. While not specifically on mental health (but rather as a case concerning a victim of domestic violence it is absolutely analogous), in this recent case the Fair Work Commission found a dismissal to be unfair … Read more
Posting about an employer while employed can impact on an employee being awarded their job back. Social Media Rant- a tempting trap? The impact that social media, and specifically what an employee posts on social media, is being more frequently considered in the employment context. For example, since the “boom” of social media platforms like … Read more
Earlier this week we commented on trends & sleeper issues for 2016. Hot on the tail of this, the Fair Work Commission has issued an important ruling in relation to leave during notice periods. This is super important for all employers generally, and in this blog we provide our thoughts on the decision and discuss … Read more
Welcome back for 2016! What the early cases are already telling us in 2016 – the race for change is on. What are your competitors potentially doing that you are not? The Fair Work Act places multiple hurdles to change. Whether it be business necessity or not, those hurdles are now really being tested – with … Read more
Further to our developing series on workplace mental health, this employee claimed incapacity due to hospitalisation for mental health but was still able to brief a lawyer, make a bullying complaint and lodge an application from his hospital bed. Nevertheless, this is perfectly understandable and Deputy President Kovacic found that this was an exceptional circumstance … Read more
In another case on what is becoming a rush of decisions involving mental health claims, see Vernham v Jayco Caravans. In this case, the employee threatened that he would “go postal” and complained to some people that he was suicidal. The company conceded that the day before the threat he was in an agitated state. … Read more
CASE NOTE: Burke v Suncorp Group Pty Ltd [2015] FWC 3357 26 June 2015 In this recent decision, the Fair Work Commission found that a failure to consider an employee’s “reasonably obvious” mental health issues caused the employee’s dismissal to be unfair – even though the employer had nothing other than circumstantial evidence to go … Read more
