Browsing: Industrial/employment issues | Page 4

An employer effectively dismissed a worker with autism after it refused to make safety accommodations for him when he reported experiencing sensory and health issues caused by his uniform, a commission has ruled.

A union and one of its officials have been handed fines totalling nearly $37,000, after a court found the latter made a frustrated comment that constituted a threat to the future career of a workplace health and safety manager.

A major work health and safety Bill has passed in Queensland, with amendments aimed at facilitating a plan that could extend industrial manslaughter provisions to bystander deaths, and ensure multiple duty holders can be charged with manslaughter after a fatality.

A worker who claims his schizophrenia was exacerbated by workplace bullying and harassment has been denied compensation, with a commission accepting the exacerbation was probably caused by a medical error.

The High Court has agreed to consider quashing the application of allegedly outdated judgments that bar damages for psychiatric injuries caused by dismissal processes, in the case of a worker who was subjected to a sham dismissal after an incident on a work trip.

Employers have been reminded of their WHS duties to pregnant and parent workers, and urged to make ergonomic adjustments where needed, after a major project found these workers continue to face "vast discrimination, disadvantage, and bias".

A "critical and insensitive" manager who routinely swore at his subordinates in an attempt to motivate them to meet purported "German demands" has lost his adverse action case, with a court finding his behaviour warranted instant dismissal and he wasn't the victim of WHS breaches.

Another employer has been fined for workplace health and safety breaches affecting children, with its failures including not maintaining a safe supervision ratio of employees to customers.

Disingenuous attempts by companies to curb s-xual harassment in response to increased attention on the matter are damaging the chances for change, according to the latest instalment of a landmark Australian study.

A supervisor did not bully a remote worker by closely monitoring his performance, a commission has found in denying the worker stop-bullying orders.