In today’s society, work is a central part of our lives providing us with security, identity and status. Because of this, termination of employment can be catastrophic. Australian industrial relations has always combined both economic rationalist and social justice perspectives, with the economic rationalist perspective more influential from the 1990s in particular. The election of the Rudd Labour government in late 2007 and the return of some employment protections shift the balance slightly back towards the social justice perspective.
The case study illustrates James’s poor management practices breached the company’s policy of serious incident of misconduct leading to unfair dismissal. Andrew Stewart (2008) claims where a worker is in serious breach of their obligations, the employer can generally terminate their employment with immediate effect. This power of summary dismissal operates as an exception to any requirement to give notice of termination. Under the common law, a party to a contract has the right to terminate in response to any