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Latest expert articles
Pregnant employee with severe morning sickness – discrimination claims rejected by VCAT
Leave entitlements can be a tricky business for employers, particularly when the employee is an expectant mum – and, after a recent tribunal ruling, especially if the pregnant employee has…
CEO swears at and dismisses employee – ruled as ‘unfair’ by Fair Work
A small business owner was found to have unfairly dismissed an employee after telling her to “f-ck off”. The Fair Work Commission ruled that the female employee was unfairly dismissed…
Name too foreign-sounding? Perceived ethnic origins can influence recruitment processes, study finds
A recent study finds French job applicants with foreign-sounding names are much less likely to get callbacks from recruiters. Researchers from the Paris School of Economics and Stanford University sent…
Rude text accidentally sent to boss: how to avoid poisonous office relationships
A dismissed employee has failed to convince the Fair Work Commission that an accidentally-sent text to her employer, in which she called him a “complete d-ck”, was a “lighthearted insult”.…
Anger management: Jeremy Clarkson and the end of “angry man”- how the workplace is changing
Angry men like Jeremy Clarkson are no longer welcome in today’s workplace, or so it appears. As Amelia McGuinness observes, “no matter how much the public loves you, the myth of…
Bullying round the clock: how out-of-hours social media activity can be a risk for employers
A recent Fair Work Commission Full Bench decision has further clarified when out-of-hours social media activity can constitute workplace bullying. Both port operator DP World and the Maritime Union of…
Explicit phone porn: procedural investigation errors foil dismissal of sales manager
A company had a valid reason for sacking its sales manager, including the post-employment discovery of pornographic images on his mobile phone, but “substantial” procedural deficiencies made the dismissal unfair,…
6 productivity tips: the link between leadership behaviour and performance
Building effective teams and ensuring performance and productivity is a function of leadership behaviour and communication, as is demonstrated by the following tips from both established and rising business leaders.…
“You will be kicked out”: “low-level anger” and “heavy-handed” treatment of childcare worker not necessarily bullying
The Fair Work Commission has ruled that a Melbourne childcare worker who received “heavy handed” treatment from her boss and intolerance and low-level anger from a colleague was not bullied…
