This month we look at two recent decisions in the employment law space. The first decision relates to an employer’s decision to terminate an employee for breaching a cardinal safety rule. The second decision relates to the reprehensible conduct of an employer who failed to pass on an employee’s paid parental leave entitlement. Use of…
A recent decision of Judge Vasta of the Federal Circuit Court reiterates the need for a careful and considered approach in making decisions involving pregnant employees. In this decision it seems that in trying to do what it thought was the right thing, the employer inadvertently (and perhaps ignorantly) fell foul of laws put in…
A real estate agency in Victoria will wait until a further hearing in October to find out Judge Riley’s decision as to compensation, after it unsuccessfully defended proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court brought by a former administrative assistant (‘Applicant’). The Applicant alleged that she had been terminated by the real estate agency due to…
In a recent decision, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal have found that pregnancy related ‘morning sickness’ may constitute a disability under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) (Act). In the case, a pregnant full time employee asked to reduce her full time hours to 28 hours a week. The employee experienced severe morning sickness…
In the recent case of Sagona v R & C Piccolo Investments Pty Ltd and Ors, the Federal Circuit Court has ordered the employer and its husband and wife owners to pay $235,000 to an employee who was found to have been discriminated against after she announced that she was pregnant. Background The Applicant in…
