Fair Work Commission

The benchbooks have been developed by the Fair Work Commission in accordance with our Future Directions plan. We will develop other benchbooks as required.

The Commission’s benchbooks are plain language guides to the Fair Work legislation. They set out the key principles of case law on topics including:

• agreement making
• anti-bullying
• general protections
• industrial action, and
• unfair dismissal.

The benchbooks contain information on how the legislation and case law have been applied in Commission decisions. They are designed to help parties prepare their material for matters before the Commission.

To provide feedback on the currently available benchbooks, please email us at benchbook@fwc.gov.au.

If you wish to be notified when new Commission benchbooks are published please go to our Subscribe to updates page and subscribe to the Announcements service (for administrative and general announcements), or check our website regularly for the latest news.

Disclaimer

The content of these resources should be used as a general guide only. The benchbooks are not intended to be an authority to be used in support of a case at hearing.^[1]

Precautions have been taken to ensure the information is accurate, but the Commonwealth does not guarantee, and accepts no legal liability whatsoever arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of any material contained in these resources or on any linked site.

The information provided, including cases and commentary, are considered correct as of the date of publication. Any changes to legislation and case law will be reflected in updates to these benchbooks.

Individual cases have been selected as examples to help users gain a better understanding of the issues covered. These cases should not be considered exhaustive.

The case examples used in these benchbooks are interpretations of the decisions by Commission staff on specific issues which are addressed within the text. The case examples may not reflect all of the issues considered in the relevant decision. In the electronic version of the benchbook the original text of each decision can be accessed by clicking the relevant link.

These resources are not a substitute for independent professional advice and users should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances.

In many areas of Indigenous Australia it is considered offensive to publish photographs or names of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have recently died. Users are warned that these resources may inadvertently contain such names.

Links to external websites

Where this site provides links to external websites, these links are provided for the visitor's convenience and do not constitute endorsement of the material on those sites, or any associated organisation, product or service.

The Commission acknowledges the services provided by AustLII, Thomson Reuters and LexisNexis which were utilised in compiling this resource.

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