About dismissals

On this page:

• Types of dismissal
• What is unfair dismissal?
• Who can make an unfair dismissal remedy application?

Types of dismissal

Fair Work Australia (FWA) deals with two main types of dismissal applications:

• unfair dismissal
• dismissal where there has been a breach of the 'general protections'.

In general, an employee cannot pursue more than one type of dismissal application at the same time.

This section deals with unfair dismissal. The other type of dismissal application follows the processes outlined in the Dispute resolution section.

What is unfair dismissal?

An unfair dismissal occurs where an employee makes an unfair dismissal remedy application and Fair Work Australia finds that:

• the employee was dismissed, and
• the dismissal was harsh, unjust or unreasonable, and
• the dismissal was not a case of genuine redundancy, and
• the dismissal was not consistent with the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code, where the employee was employed by a small business.

A small business is a business that employs less than 15 full-time equivalent employees.

Who can make an unfair dismissal remedy application?

To make an unfair dismissal remedy application an employee must be:

• covered by the national unfair dismissal laws, and
• eligible to make an application.

The application must be lodged within 14 days of the dismissal coming into effect.

To be eligible to apply an employee must, amongst other things, have:

• completed a minimum employment period of at least six months (one year in the case of a small business employee), and
• be covered by an award or agreement if they earn more than $113,800 a year.