How an employer's investigation records held up against a worker's long list of complaints
When does an employee's complaint become a shield against discipline? An Australian court has drawn that line, and the reasoning is instructive for any HR team managing a difficult staff member.
On June 24, 2026, the Federal Circuit and Family Court dismissed a general protections claim brought by a former plan management supervisor against his former employer, the disability charity Action on Disability within Ethnic Communities, known as ADEC.
The supervisor had worked there since May 2021, running a team that helped clients manage their National Disability Insurance Scheme funding. The team included an employee with a disability. According to the judgment, the supervisor was dismissed on January 11, 2023, for serious misconduct, after an investigation found he had bullied that employee.
He challenged the dismissal in court. His case: the first and final warning and the termination were "adverse action" taken because he had exercised workplace rights. He pointed to thirteen complaints, four inquiries and three periods of personal leave taken before he was disciplined.
Here is why HR should pay attention. A general protections claim shifts the burden onto the employer. Once a worker shows adverse action and a workplace right, the employer must prove the right was not a substantial and operative reason for what it did. That is the reverse onus under section 361 of the Fair Work Act,...
A California-based physician was recently arrested after pleading guilty to charges of healthcare fraud. Dr. Sanjoy Banerjee, was a medical director for Fountain Hospice, based in Los Angeles. Two...