1Where a respondent employer adduces evidence from the decision-maker as to their actual reasons for termination, corroborated by other witnesses, and that evidence is not challenged in cross-examination on critical points, a trial judge is entitled to accept that evidence as discharging the reverse onus under s 361 of the Fair Work Act, even where some objective indicators (such as absence of contemporaneous records or formal warnings) weigh against it.
2An employee's communication to a regulator that merely provides factual information in response to a request, without conveying a grievance, finding of fault, accusation, or inquiry pertaining to the employee's own employment, does not constitute the exercise of a workplace right under s 341(1)(c) of the Fair Work Act.
3Where a decision-maker's objection to an employee's conduct is the employee's refusal to comply with a managerial instruction (rather than the content of a communication to a regulator), the operative reason for adverse action is the insubordination, not any exercise of a workplace right — even if the communication could otherwise be characterised as such.
