A recent ruling upholding the sacking of a worker, who failed to disclose a longstanding health issue, shows that holding employees to account for complying with their own health and safety duties forms part of an employer's obligations, a senior safety and employment lawyer says.
A worker's failure to disclose to his employer that he had a longstanding physical limitation, and was suing the UK's National Health Service for causing the condition, constituted a breach of his duties under safety laws and provided a sound reason for his dismissal, a commission has found.
In a case examining PCBUs' disclosure obligations, a tribunal has rejected a request for risk assessments and other documents by four workers, who claimed they were the victims of WHS discrimination relating to their employer's COVID-19 vaccination policy.
Reporting a safety incident is as important as the incident itself, a commission has reaffirmed in ordering the reinstatement of a worker sacked for failing to report an allegedly unsafe driving incident. His failure to report was mitigated by the fact that his supervisor witnessed and recorded the event, the commission found.
A commission has cautioned that society's "significantly raised" bar for what constitutes consent for physical interactions is "even higher" in work-related environments, in upholding the summary dismissal of a worker for inappropriately touching a colleague.
A sacked worker has unsuccessfully claimed her employer breached safety laws by failing to conduct a risk assessment for a COVID-19 vaccine rule, and that her role wasn't covered by a government vaccine mandate.
A commission has rejected a worker's allegations that she was forced to resign because her employer failed to shield her from vicarious trauma and its approach to psychological safety was "stuck in the 1990s".
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.
The High Court has agreed to consider quashing the application of allegedly outdated judgments that bar damages for psychiatric injuries caused by dismissal processes, in the case of a worker who was subjected to a sham dismissal after an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.
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.
