Back to top
Unfair dismissals benchbook
An overview of legal procedure & case law
Making an application
Link to application form
All forms are available on the Forms page of the Fair Work Commission's website.
Updated time
Last updated
17 March 2021
Bookmark/Search this post
Page feedback
Mini sites
- Annual Report 2013–14
- Reader's guide
- 1. Overview
- 2. About the Commission
- 3. Performance reporting
- Overview
- Legislative amendments
- Workload
- Timeliness benchmarks
- Resolving disputes
- Determining unfair dismissal applications
- Setting the minimum wage
- Orders relating to industrial action
- Processes relating to modern awards
- Approving agreements
- Regulating registered organisations
- Determining anti-bullying applications
- Key performance indicators
- 4. Management and accountability
- 5. Appendices
- A | Member activities
- B | List of Members
- C | Panel assignments
- D | Methodology for Chart 2–Matters dealt with by the Commission and its predecessors 1998–99 to 2013–14
- E | Promoting fairness and improving access
- F | Efficiency and innovation
- G | Increasing accountability
- H | Productivity and engaging with industry
- I | Documents relating to the work of the Commission
- J | Fair Work Commission addresses
- K | Lodgment and case load statistics
- L | Methodology for Chart 6–Number of Commission sittings, various
- M | Subscription services
- N | Information on specific statutory requirements
- O | Fraud Control Certificate
- P | Fair Work Commission Service Charter
- Q | Financial statements
- Independent Audit Report
- Statement by the General Manager and Chief Financial Officer
- Statement of Comprehensive Income
- Statement of Financial Position
- Statement of Changes in Equity
- Cash Flow Statement
- Schedule of Commitments
- Schedule of Administered Items
- Notes to the financial statements
- Note 1: Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
- Note 2: Events after the Reporting Period
- Note 3: Expenses
- Note 4: Income
- Note 5: Fair Value Measurements
- Note 6: Financial Assets
- Note 7: Non-financial Assets
- Note 8: Payables
- Note 9: Provisions
- Note 10: Cash Flow Reconciliation
- Note 11: Contingent Liabilities and Assets
- Note 12: Senior Executive Remuneration
- Note 13: Remuneration of Auditors
- Note 14: Financial Instruments
- Note 15: Financial Assets Reconciliation
- Note 16: Administered Income
- Note 17: Administered Payables
- Note 18: Administered Cash Flow Reconciliation
- Note 19: Administered Contingent Liabilities and Assets
- Note 20: Appropriations
- Note 21: Compliance with Statutory Conditions for Payments from the Consolidated Revenue Fund
- Note 22: Compensation and Debt Relief
- Note 23: Reporting of Outcomes
- Note 24: Net Cash Appropriation Arrangements
- R | Agency resource statement
- S | Expenses and resources for outcome
- T | Glossary
- U | Acronyms and abbreviations
- V | List of requirements
- Letter of transmittal
- Inquiries and copyright
- Videos
- Downloads
- Annual Report 2014–15
- Introduction
- Preliminary information
- Part 1 Overview
- Part 2 About the Commission
- Part 3 Performance reporting
- Overview
- Legislative amendments
- Workload
- Timeliness benchmarks
- Resolving disputes
- Unlawful termination disputes
- Determining unfair dismissal applications
- Setting the minimum wage
- Orders relating to industrial action
- Processes relating to modern awards
- Enterprise agreements
- Determining anti-bullying applications
- Regulating registered organisations
- Key performance indicators
- Part 4 Management and accountability
- Corporate governance
- Planning and development
- Workplace health and safety
- Business continuity
- Ethical standards
- Fair Work Commission values
- Freedom of information
- Accountability
- The Commission's workforce
- Employee pay and entitlements
- Service Charter, complaints and code of conduct
- Financial management
- Agency resource statement
- Expenses and resources for outcome
- Acronyms and abbreviations
- Part 5 Appendices
- Annual Report 2015–16
- Preliminary information
- Part 1: Overview
- Part 2: About the Commission
- Part 3: Performance
- Performance summary
- Annual performance statements 2015–16
- Operational performance
- Significant decisions
- Case studies
- Part 4: Management & accountability
- Appendices
- Appendix A: List of Members
- Appendix B: Panel assignments
- Appendix C: Member activities
- Appendix D: Lodgment & case load statistics
- Appendix E: Registered organisations data
- Appendix F: Performance reporting for the RSRT
- Appendix G: Financial statements
- Appendix H: Subscription services
- Appendix I: Service charter
- Appendix J: List of requirements
- Appendix K: Expense & resources outcome, agency resource statement & financial performance analysis
- Glossary
- Acronyms & abbreviations
- Contact us
- Annual Wage Review 2013–14
- Anti-bullying benchbook
- Glossary & naming conventions
- Overview of benchbook
- What is workplace bullying?
- Who is covered by workplace bullying laws?
- When is a worker bullied at work?
- Making an application
- Responding to an application
- If the worker has been dismissed
- Commission processes
- Evidence
- Outcomes
- Associated applications
- Corporate Plan 2018–19
- Corporate Plan 2019–20
- Corporate Plan 2020-21
- Enterprise agreements benchbook
- Glossary & naming conventions
- Overview of benchbook
- What is an enterprise agreement?
- Content of an enterprise agreement
- Agreement making process
- Bargaining
- Voting
- Making an application
- Commission approval process
- Associated applications
- General Manager reporting requirements
- General protections benchbook
- Glossary & naming conventions
- Overview of benchbook
- What are the general protections?
- How do the general protections work?
- Coverage for general protections
- What if I am not covered?
- What is adverse action?
- Workplace rights protections
- Industrial activities protections
- Other protections
- Sham arrangements
- Making an application
- Power to dismiss applications
- Evidence
- Commission process
- Outcomes
- Costs
- Appeals
- Role of the Court
- Industrial action benchbook
- JobKeeper benchbook
- Glossary
- Introduction
- JobKeeper enabling directions – general
- Jobkeeper enabling stand down directions – entitled employers
- Jobkeeper enabling directions – legacy employers
- Agreements about days or times of work
- Employer payment obligations
- Agreements about annual leave
- Protections
- Disputes we cannot assist with
- Applications to deal with a dispute
- Commission process
- Evidence
- Outcomes
- Attachments
- Attachment 5 – provisions that continue to apply
- Modern Awards Review 2012
- Sir Richard Kirby Archives
- Home
- Sir Richard Kirby
- About the Archives
- Cases
- Centenary
- Exhibitions
- Exhibition launch: The history of the Australian minimum wage
- Guide – Opening Exhibition
- International Industrial Dispute Resolution Conference
- Speaker – Justice Alan Boulton AO
- Speaker – Mr Arthur F Rosenfeld
- Speaker – Mr Craig Smith
- Speaker – Mr James Wilson
- Speaker – Mr Kieran Mulvey
- Speaker – Mr Peter Anderson
- Speaker – Ms Ginette Brazeau
- Speaker – Ms Nerine Kahn
- Speaker – Ms Rita Donaghy CBE
- Speaker – Ms Sharan Burrow
- Speaker – Senator Guy Barnett
- Speaker – The Hon. Julia Gillard
- The Journey
- The history of the Australian minimum wage
- The Great Strikes
- The first minimum wage: The Victorian minimum wage
- The Harvester Decision
- The impact of the Great Depression
- Working it out: Cost of living versus capacity to pay
- The removal of award rate discrimination
- The wage explosion & economic crisis
- The modern era: The development of a modern minimum wage
- Treasures of the archives
- The modern era
- Past Presidents
- Past Members
- Unfair dismissals benchbook
- Overview of unfair dismissal
- Glossary & naming conventions
- Coverage for unfair dismissal
- What is dismissal?
- When does a dismissal take effect?
- Terminated at the employer's initiative
- Forced resignation
- Demotion
- Contract for a specified period of time
- Contract for a specified task
- Contract for a specified season
- Training arrangement
- What is a transfer of employment?
- Periods of service as a casual employee
- What is a genuine redundancy?
- What is the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code?
- What makes a dismissal unfair?
- Making an application
- Objecting to an application
- Commission process
- Remedies
- Dismissing an application
- Evidence
- Costs
- Appeals
- Role of the Court
- Waltzing Matilda and the Sunshine Harvester Factory
- Introduction
- The book
- The film
- Historical material
- 38 Hour Week Wage Principle [1983]
- 40 Hour Week Case [1947]
- 44 Hour Week Case [1927]
- Apprenticeship indentures
- Australian Minimum Wage and fitter (trades) rate since 1906
- Boot Trades Case
- Careers in Bootmaking and Boot Repairing
- Cattle Industry Case 1966
- Commercial Printing Case [1936]
- Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904
- Cost of living newspaper articles from the early 1900s
- Debates
- Equal Pay Case 1969
- Equal Pay Case 1972
- Fruit Pickers Case
- Gas Employees Case
- Graph of Australian Minimum Wage since 1906
- Harvester Case
- Historic case judgments on the Fair Work Commission's website
- Kingston's evidence
- Linesmen's Case
- Maternity Leave Case [1979]
- Metal trades base level minimum wages [1967–2015]
- Methods of wage adjustment
- Establishing an Australian Minimum Wage 1907?1922
- Quarterly indexation 1922–1953
- The Great Depression 1931
- Prosperity loadings 1937
- World War II 1939–1945
- The post-war period: 1953–1965 basic wage inquiries
- The total wage 1966–1967
- Removal of discrimination in award rates
- Reintroduction of quarterly wage indexation 1975–1978
- Six monthly wage indexation 1978–1981
- Wage explosion 1981–1982
- Reforming awards and work and management practices 1987–1991
- Six monthly wage indexation 1983–1987
- Enterprise bargaining and a minimum wage safety net 1991–1996
- Statutory adjustments
- The minimum wage in real terms
- Mrs Beeton's cookbook
- Paternity Leave Case [1990]
- Personal/Carer's Leave Test Case [1995]
- Piddington report
- Re Bagshaw [1907]
- Significant cases on the Fair Work Commission's website
- Statistics for the purpose of comparison with the Australian minimum wage
- The Amalgamated Society of Engineers v. The Adelaide Steam-ship Company Limited and Others
- The Australian minimum wage from 1906
- The Federated Marine Stewards and Pantrymen's Association v. The Commonwealth Steamship Owners' Association and Others
- The Victorian minimum wage 1896
- The first Award: 1906 Steam-ship Crew
- 100 years of the minimum wage—Statistical comparison
- US, UK and Australian minimum wage systems
- Mrs Beeton's cookbook
- Glossary
- Related sites
- Educational materials
- AWRS First Findings report