An overview of legal procedure & case law
An application for unfair dismissal must name the employer against who the claim is being made. That employer must be a national system employer. If an application is made against an entity that is not the employer, the application can be dismissed.
It may not always be clear who the employer is in every situation. An employer may be the corporate trustee of a family trust, or an entity that has been through name changes or involved in a transmission of business.
Under the Fair Work Act 2009 employers are required to provide employees with a pay slip.[1] The Fair Work Regulations requires that a pay slip must specify the employer’s name and include their Australian Business Number (ABN) if they have one.[2]
The employer is generally the entity that pays the employee.
Section 586 of the Fair Work Act provides a power for the Fair Work Commission to correct or amend an application, or waive an irregularity in the form or manner in which an application is made.[3]
An applicant can apply to the Commission to amend an application if they have made a mistake on the form such as misspelling the name or not providing the full name of the employer. In certain circumstances, this power may also be used to substitute the name of the employer.[4]
[1] Fair Work Act s.536.
[2] Fair Work Regulations reg 3.46.
[3] Fair Work Act s.586; see Narayan v MW Engineers Pty Ltd (2013) 231 IR 89 [6].
[4] See for example Djula v Centurion Transport Co. Pty Ltd [2015] FWCFB 2371 (Catanzariti VP, Harrison SDP, Bull C, 12 May 2015) at para. 28.