Termination of employment – misconduct – reinstatement – s.394 Fair Work Act 2009 – applicant employed as security officer in hospital – dismissed for lodging complaint about a male colleague during ‘frisk’ search of patient – patient had been in a psychotic state and had required sedation – respondent alleged applicant’s complaint was knowingly false and intended to harass/victimise colleague, and for being untruthful during investigation – alternatively, dismissed for failing to immediately report incident – Commission found no valid reason for dismissal – no evidence of intention to harass or victimise – evidence that policies required a female to conduct search of female patient unless doing so would pose unnecessary risk – a second security guard who witnessed incident also considered conduct inappropriate – both raised issue with colleague implicated immediately and both thought further action appropriate – applicant was more senior and took responsibility for reporting allegation – reasons for unwillingness to file a police report explained and plausible – short delay in filing complaint explained – Commission unwilling to place much weight on external report given the number of factual differences in contrast with evidence – author of report unavailable for cross-examination – findings alleged by report cannot be simultaneously sustained – found applicant unfairly terminated from employment – reinstatement appropriate as not valid reason for termination existed, loss of trust and confidence alleged by respondent misguided – applicant continued to work with colleague implicated for almost 12 months after the incident up until dismissal – compensation for lost pay reduced given applicant made little attempt to mitigate losses – reinstatement with continuity of service together with an amount of eight weeks’ salary less tax ordered. Osmond v St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney t/a St Vincent’s Hospital
November 25, 2015
Nurses at the Shoalhaven Hospital claim they have been forced to deal with unsafe patient loads due to bed block.
November 25, 2015
Manly Vale Nursing Home Pty Ltd has been accused of unfairly dismissing a staff member (Clinton).
November 25, 2015
An application for approval of the Autism Queensland Limited Employee Collective Agreement 2015 is being reviewed by Fair Work Commissioner Cribb in Melbourne.
November 25, 2015
An application for approval of the Westmead Rehabilitation Hospital & HSU-NSW Enterprise Agreement 2015-2016 is also before the same Fair Work Commissioner.
November 25, 2015
Independent Community Living Australia Limited is facing a s.372 (application to deal with other contravention disputes) from an ex-employee (Giallussi).
November 25, 2015
Eastern Health is still dealing with the most difficult labour case to come before the Fair Work Commission this year (Sirdesai).
November 25, 2015
The Fair Work Commission has ratified the Huon Eldercare Inc HACSU ANMF General Staff Agreement 2015.
