You may be eligible to make an application for an unfair dismissal remedy in the Fair Work Commission if you are a national system employee who has completed the minimum employment period of:

• six months (where your former employer employed 15 or more employees at the time of your dismissal) or
• one year (where your former employer employed fewer than 15 employees at the time of your dismissal).

Additionally, if your earnings at the time of your dismissal were more than the high-income threshold ($167,500 per annum as at 1 July 2023), a modern award must cover you, and/or an enterprise agreement must apply to you in
relation to your employment.

For the Fair Work Commission to find that you were unfairly dismissed, it must be satisfied that:

• you were dismissed; and
• the dismissal was harsh, unjust, or unreasonable; and
• the dismissal was not consistent with the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code; and
• the dismissal was not a case of genuine redundancy.

Please be aware that there are very strict statutory time limits for making an unfair dismissal application. Your application typically must be lodged with the Fair Work Commission within 21 days after your dismissal took effect.

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You may be eligible to make a general protections application if your former, current, or prospective employer or principal has taken a recognised form of adverse action against you (for example, by dismissing you, injuring/disadvantaging you in your employment/engagement, or refusing to employ/engage you) because of an unlawful reason.

Unlawful reasons include but are not limited to because:

• you made a complaint/inquiry in relation to your employment and/or the terms and conditions of your contract;
• of your race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, breastfeeding, gender identity, intersex status, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, family or carer’s responsibilities, subjection to family and domestic violence, pregnancy, religion, political opinion, national extraction, or social origin.

We have an expert understanding of the general protections regime, and would be pleased to have a confidential initial consultation with you to ascertain if this application aligns with your circumstances, and explain the process involved in making the pplication and how we can assist you with your case.

Please be aware that there are very strict statutory time limits for making a general protections application involving dismissal. Your application typically must be lodged with the Fair Work Commission within 21 days after your dismissal took effect.

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The importance of obtaining early expert advice and representation in respect of a process commenced by your employer purporting to address your alleged workplace misconduct and/or alleged unsatisfactory work performance cannot be overstated.

Through our expertise, we are well placed to review and assess the process that your employer is seeking to implement, advise you on the appropriateness of the process, including whether the process is justified in the circumstances, and where necessary, advocate on your behalf to ensure that you are being treated with dignity and that your employer is not taking disproportionate or procedurally unfair steps to address the relevant workplace issue.

In our experience, many employees who have reached out to us for early advice and representation have been able to successfully resolve the relevant workplace issue without the need to commence a legal claim against their employer.

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Unlawful discrimination in the workplace occurs when an employer treats, or proposes to treat, an employee less favourably because of a personal characteristic protected by law, including: age, breastfeeding, disability, employment activity, gender identity, industrial activity, lawful sexual activity, marital status, parental status or status as a carer, physical features, political belief or activity, pregnancy, race (including colour, nationality, ethnicity, and ethnic origin), religious belief or activity, sex, and sexual orientation.

Examples of less favourable treatment include, but are not limited to: dismissal, refusing a promotion or other work-related opportunities, disciplinary action, imposing unreasonable work requirements, and refusing reasonable adjustments to accommodate a person’s disability and/or carer’s requirements.

We can support you in making a formal written complaint to your employer and guide you through any subsequent investigation process. In our experience, many employers tend to treat complaints from an employee with a greater degree of urgency and importance when they have been made aware that the employee is receiving legal advice and representation.

In the event that your employer has not taken appropriate steps to address the unlawful discrimination you have experienced in in the workplace, we are strongly placed to advise and represent you:

• in respect of the potential applications you can make to the relevant tribunal or court; and/or
• in any negotiations with your employer should you wish to resign from/cease your employment on terms that are more favourable than those in your contract of employment.

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If you have found yourself being subjected to unreasonable behaviour in the workplace, you may be experiencing workplace bullying.

Workplace bullying occurs when:

• a person, or a group of people, behaves unreasonably towards a worker, or a ground of workers at work; and
• this happens more than once; and
• this creates a risk to health and safety.

Workplace bullying includes, but is not limited to:

• aggressive or intimidating behaviour;
• the use of abusive or offensive language;
• mocking, belittling or humiliating someone;
• ostracising someone from work-related activities;
• engaging in conduct that compromises the quality of someone’s work.

We can support you in making a formal written complaint to your employer and guide you through any subsequent investigation process. In our experience, many employers tend to treat complaints from an employee with a greater degree of urgency and importance when they have been made aware that the employee is receiving legal advice and representation.

In the event that your employer has not taken appropriate steps to ensure that you are not at risk of further workplace bullying, we are strongly placed to advise and represent you:

• in respect of the potential applications you can make to the relevant tribunal or court; and/or
• in any negotiations with your employer should you wish to resign from/cease your employment on terms that are more favourable than those in your contract of employment.

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We recognise that sexual harassment, along with other forms of sex-based discrimination, can cause physical and psychological harm to whomever it is directed, along with those who witness the relevant unlawful conduct.

In supporting our employee clients who have been adversely affected by workplace sexual harassment, we take great care in ensuring that our approach to providing advice and representation is person-centred and trauma-informed.

Sexual harassment is unlawful – it is any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that occurs in circumstances in which a reasonable person, aware of those circumstances, would anticipate that the person being harassed might feel offended, humiliated, or intimidated.

It is important to understand that:

• sexual harassment is unlawful even if a person did not intend to engage in it;
• sexual harassment does not need to be obvious, repeated or continuous for it be unlawful;
• a person’s conduct may be unwelcome even if the person being harassed does not explicitly reject the conduct;
• even if a person’s conduct may have been welcome on a prior occasion, it may still be unwelcome on a separate occasion.

We can support you in making a formal written complaint to your employer and guide you through any subsequent investigation process. In our experience, many employers tend to treat complaints from an employee with a greater degree of urgency and importance when they have been made aware that the employee is receiving legal advice and representation.

In the event that your employer has not taken appropriate steps to ensure that you are not at risk of further workplace sexual harassment, we are strongly placed to advise and represent you:

• in respect of the potential applications you can make to the relevant tribunal or court; and/or
• in any negotiations with your employer should you wish to resign from/cease your employment on terms that are more favourable than those in your contract of employment.

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Whether you are seeking support with negotiating the terms and conditions set out in an offer of employment that you have received from a prospective employer, or looking to gain a better understanding and/or enforce your rights under your existing contract of employment, we can support you.

We have successfully assisted clients on a wide range of employment contract issues, including but not limited to:

• reviewing and providing advice on the proposed terms of a contract of employment to ensure the terms accord with our client’s needs;
• providing advice on the obligations arising from the terms of a contract (for example, terms concerning notice of termination, restraints of trade, confidentiality, and workplace policies);
• providing advice on the potential risks stemming from the proposed terms of a contract;
• initiating claims where an employer appears to have breached a term of the contract.

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