An employer has convinced a court that it did not take unlawful adverse action when its HR manager decided to dismiss an employee who had lodged a bullying and harassment complaint.
A self-represented worker who is pursuing a bullying claim in the FWC would be placed at "further disadvantage" if her employer and two managers already being assisted by in-house HR specialists won the right to legal representation, the tribunal has ruled.
The FWC has declined to issue anti-bullying orders despite finding the allegations proved, reasoning that the employer had sufficiently reduced the risk of further incidents by changing the antagonist's job to ensure minimal contact between the parties.
The FWC has issued an interim anti-bullying order restraining the co-owner of a tyre business and his employee nephew from communicating with or being within 10 metres of each other, noting that a separate court order for the nephew not to commit "family violence" against his uncle had done little to improve a combative workplace atmosphere.
A university and its HR department embroiled in accusations of bullying between law school academics have been granted the right to engage lawyers to defend the claims.
The FWC has refused an employer's application to recoup its costs of defending an unfair dismissal claiming, noting the employer incurred its "unreasonable" $10,000-plus bill because its chose a law firm that provided a "Rolls Royce service".
The FWC has issued an interim order to restrain an employer from disciplining an executive for alleged misconduct until the tribunal determines her anti-bullying application.
The FWC has rejected a casual employee's bid for anti-bullying orders, despite finding that her employer had acted unreasonably by issuing a written warning 11 months after initiating the first of two contradictory investigations into alleged misconduct.
March 15 has been set down for a potentially explosive hearing in Queensland's Supreme Court as IRC presidential member Dianne Linnane seeks to have a state government investigation into her alleged bullying of colleagues declared unlawful.
