In the recent case of Colin Wright v AGL Loy Lang, the full bench of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) was faced with an interesting conundrum – could the criminal law Pfitzner principle be legitimately applied to a civil matter? With the original decision on the point being in the negative, the appeal bench […]
We understand that when business owners have a strong hunch regarding an employee’s dubious behaviour, their instinct can be to act in a fast and decisive manner. Often angered and sometimes caught off guard by what appears to be serious misconduct, employers can be tempted to deal with a worker’s blatant misconduct at once – […]
Rules of evidence exist to ensure that court hearings are properly and fairly conducted. They are enshrined in legislation. To be admissible, each piece of evidence must satisfy all the checks and balances set out in the legislation. EVIDENCE AND THE Fair Work Commission (FWC) The FWC is not bound by the rules of evidence […]
Jill McMahon – Monday, December 14, 2015 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} The issue of circumstantial evidence can often arise in workplace investigations, and there can sometimes be confusion about how to […]
How to Cover Essential Rights in an Interview Covering the essential rights of a person in an interview is crucial to procedural fairness. If the interviewee is not made aware of their rights from the outset, anything that they may say during the interview may be viewed as being lacking in procedural fairness and of […]
How to Use Timelines in Interviews When conducting an investigative interview in the workplace, finding out exactly ‘who did what when’ can be somewhat easier said than done. Because we are generally interviewing a number of people and collating various documents and/ or items, we need to find ways to accurately collect and reconcile the […]
Want to Audio Record Interviews But Not Sure How? When you are called upon to investigate a workplace issue, the desire to get a clear and accurate picture of the problem is understandably strong. Recording the interviews seems like a good idea – you’ll have a word-for-word transcript and be able to concentrate more on […]
Interviewing witnesses is a crucial part of any workplace investigation but it can sometimes be difficult to extract reliable evidence. According to the rules of evidence, hearsay, opinions and assumptions are not admissible in court and you should avoid using unsound evidence to make a decision on allegations of misconduct in the workplace. There are […]
When you are conducting a workplace investigation it’s essential that for any allegations to be upheld, there is evidence to prove them. Whatever evidence is used should be compliant with the rules of evidence – this is known as admissible evidence. Using admissible evidence ensures that if the matter is later disputed and ends up […]
There is no doubt that social media is playing an increasing role in our lives. Have you ever been handed a folder of print outs from Facebook and told; “Here you go, I want this person out!”? An increasing number of organisations are developing social media policies as a starting point to control inappropriate […]