ON thirteen occasions last financial year, employers paid $100,000 or more after general protections claims involving dismissal were settled in conciliation at the Fair Work Commission.
The Commission included data on the outcomes of conferences in general protections disputes involving dismissal for the first time in its 2015-16 annual report.
The data shows that 53 per cent of general protections applications involving dismissal were resolved in conciliation. A certificate issued that the dispute remained unresolved for 25 per cent of matters.
For matters settled in conciliation, 63 per cent included a monetary payment. Of those 950 (or 82%) settled for less than $15,000. However, along with the 13 cases that settled for $100,000 or more, 49 settled for $50,000 or more and 136 settle for more than $20,000.
As the Commission’s report explains, unlike the unfair dismissal jurisdiction, the amount of compensation a court or the Commission can order is uncapped for general protections applications. In AREEA’s view, this can encourage unmeritorious claims and result in employers choosing to settle in conciliation to avoid such cases reaching the courts.
This is backed by findings from AREEA’s 2016 Federal Election Survey in which 94 per cent of respondents indicated they are concerned with costs of defending unfair dismissal and general protections claims and having to pay ‘go away’ money.
Reforming unfair dismissal and general protections laws is a key area of AREEA’s ongoing ‘5 Workplace Relations Reforms Over 5 Years’ campaign. We’re advocating for reform to:
- Ensure unfair dismissal claims are assessed on whether there was a valid reason for termination and exclude genuine redundancy claims.
- Reduce the ability to claim unfair dismissal for breaches of workplace health and safety, physical violence, harassment or gross misconduct.
- Introduce higher fees for unfair dismissal applications and hearings, and place a high income threshold for both unfair dismissal and general protection claims.
- Reduce the six year timeframe to make a general protection claim, and introduce caps for compensation and a ‘genuine reasons’ defence.
For more information on AREEA’s advocacy in this area, or for advice and assistance with an unfair dismissal or general protections claim, contact AREEA on 1800 627 771.
