Employment Law in Australia: Dismissal, Pay, Redundancy and Your Rights at Work

Unfair dismissal

• Who can claim: an employee with at least 6 months' service, or 12 months if the employer had fewer than 15 employees (counting the dismissed employee and regular casuals), who is covered by an award or enterprise agreement or earns less than the high income threshold ($190,100 for dismissals from 1 July 2026; $183,100 before). Casual service counts if the work was regular and systematic and you could reasonably expect it to continue.
• Who cannot: independent contractors, volunteers, interns and irregular casuals. Labour hire workers claim against the agency, not the business they were placed with.
• Dismissal includes being forced to resign by the employer's conduct, and a demotion with a significant cut in pay or duties. A genuine fixed term, task or season coming to an end is not a dismissal.
• What makes it unfair: the dismissal was harsh, unjust or unreasonable, and was not a genuine redundancy or, for a small business, a dismissal that followed the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code. The Commission looks at whether there was a valid reason, whether you were told it and could respond, whether you could bring a support person, any earlier warnings about performance, and the size and HR resources of the business.
• Small businesses (fewer than 15 employees) that follow the Code have not dismissed unfairly. Under the Code, a small business can dismiss without notice if it reasonably believes there was serious misconduct such as theft, fraud, violence or sexual harassment; otherwise it needs a valid reason, a warning and a chance to improve.
• Time limit: 21 days after the dismissal took effect. Day one is the day after; weekends count; if the last day is a weekend or public holiday, it moves to the next business day; the Commission must receive the application by 11:59 pm. Late applications are accepted only in exceptional circumstances, and the Commission says not knowing the deadline is not one.
• Fee: $92.70 from 1 July 2026 (it changes each 1 July), and it can be waived for serious hardship.
• The process: the employer usually has 7 days to respond. A voluntary conciliation is usually held about 5 weeks after you apply, and the Commission says about 3 in 4 cases settle there. Otherwise a Commission member decides after a conference or hearing, or, for applications made since 7 July 2026, on the papers if both sides agree. A lawyer or paid agent needs the Commission's permission to represent you.
• Remedies: reinstatement comes first. Compensation is ordered only if reinstatement is inappropriate, and is capped at 26 weeks' pay or $95,050, whichever is less (for dismissals from 1 July 2026). It cannot include anything for shock, distress or humiliation, and can be reduced for misconduct.

More detail: challenging an unfair dismissal.

Dismissed or treated badly for a prohibited reason (general protections)

• What it protects: having or using a workplace right (an entitlement, a process, or a complaint or inquiry about your employment), union membership or activity, a temporary absence for illness or injury, and protected attributes including race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, pregnancy, marital status, family or carer's responsibilities, religion, political opinion and being subjected to family and domestic violence.
• What counts as adverse action: dismissing you, injuring you in your employment, changing your position to your disadvantage, discriminating against you, or refusing to hire you.
• The burden is on the employer: the reason you allege is presumed unless the employer proves otherwise.
• Dismissal claims: apply to the Commission within 21 days after the alleged dismissal took effect. There is no minimum service period and no income limit. The Commission only conciliates, and since 7 July 2026 it no longer has to decide first whether you were dismissed. If the dispute is not resolved it issues a certificate; you then have 14 days to go to the Federal Court or the Federal Circuit and Family Court, or to Commission arbitration if both sides agree. A court can order reinstatement, compensation with no set cap, and penalties.
• Not a fallback: the Commission says this is not an alternative for people who cannot claim unfair dismissal; you must point to a prohibited reason. You also have to choose one route: if you have made an unfair dismissal or discrimination claim about the same dismissal, you cannot also make this one.
• Action short of dismissal: a Commission conference happens only if both sides agree, and you can go to court within 6 years.
• Costs are ordered against a party only if it acted vexatiously, without reasonable cause or unreasonably.

Underpaid wages and entitlements

• Minimum pay from 1 July 2026: the National Minimum Wage is $26.44 an hour or $1,004.90 a week (for employees not covered by an award or agreement), and award minimum rates rose 4.75%, from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July.
• Time limit: a court claim must start within 6 years of the underpayment.
• Small claims: up to $100,000, plus interest, in the Federal Circuit and Family Court or a state or territory magistrates court. It is informal, and a lawyer can appear only with the court's permission.
• Interest must be added if you ask for it, unless there is good cause not to.
• It is a crime since 1 January 2025 to intentionally underpay wages or entitlements, including super; honest mistakes are not covered. The maximum is 10 years' jail for an individual, and a fine of 3 times the underpayment or, if more, $1.82 million for an individual or $9.1 million for a company (offences from 1 July 2026). Only the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions or the AFP can prosecute.
• Superannuation: since 1 July 2026, employers must pay super with each pay, and the fund must receive it within 7 business days. Unpaid super can also be claimed as a minimum entitlement, unless the ATO has already started proceedings.
• The Fair Work Ombudsman helps free with underpayments, final pay, notice, redundancy pay and leave. It does not deal with unfair dismissal, bullying, workers compensation or problems more than 6 years old.

More detail: underpayment of employees.

Notice and redundancy pay

Notice must be in writing, and the employer can pay instead of giving notice. These minimums do not apply to casuals, fixed-term employees or dismissal for serious misconduct.

• No redundancy pay under the National Employment Standards for less than 12 months' service, for an employer with fewer than 15 employees, or for casuals, fixed-term employees, apprentices or dismissal for serious misconduct. One exception: a business that fell below 15 employees because of job losses around its bankruptcy or liquidation must still pay.
• The Commission can reduce it if the employer finds you other acceptable work or cannot afford to pay.
• A genuine redundancy means the employer no longer needs anyone to do the job because of changes in the business, it consulted as any award or agreement required, and redeploying you within the business or a related one was not reasonable. A redundancy that is not genuine can be an unfair dismissal.

More detail: redundancy entitlements.

Your minimum conditions

The National Employment Standards apply to every employee in the national system:

• Hours: 38 a week for full-time staff, plus reasonable extra hours; unreasonable extra hours can be refused.
• Leave: 4 weeks' paid annual leave (5 for shiftworkers); 10 days' paid personal or carer's leave a year; 2 days' unpaid carer's leave and 2 days' compassionate leave each time they are needed; 10 days' paid family and domestic violence leave a year, in full for part-time and casual staff; time off for jury service and voluntary emergency work. Long service leave comes mostly from state and territory laws.
• Parental leave: 12 months unpaid after 12 months' service, and the right to ask for up to 12 months more.
• Flexible work: after 12 months' service, parents of school-age or younger children, carers, people with disability, people aged 55 or over, pregnant employees and people experiencing family violence can ask for flexible arrangements; the employer must reply in writing within 21 days.
• Casuals can tell their employer in writing they want to become permanent after 6 months (12 months with a small business), and the employer must reply in writing within 21 days. Casuals do not get most paid leave, notice or redundancy pay.
• Right to disconnect: you can refuse to monitor or answer work contact out of hours, unless refusing is unreasonable (since 26 August 2024, and 26 August 2025 for small businesses).
• Fixed-term contracts made since 6 December 2023 generally cannot run longer than 2 years, including renewals.
• Pay secrecy terms in contracts made or changed since 7 December 2022 have no effect: you can tell others what you earn.

More detail: National Employment Standards.

Bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination

• Bullying: repeated unreasonable behaviour towards a worker that creates a risk to health and safety; reasonable management action carried out reasonably is not bullying. A worker who still works there can ask the Commission for an order to stop it if there is a risk it will continue. It cannot order money. The fee is $92.70, and the Commission must start dealing with the application within 14 days. More: workplace bullying.
• Sexual harassment connected with work is unlawful. You can ask the Commission for an order to stop it (if you are still connected to the workplace and there is a risk it will continue) or to deal with the dispute, by conciliation, then arbitration if both sides agree, or court within 60 days of the Commission's certificate. The Commission can dismiss an application made more than 24 months after the last incident. More: sexual harassment at work.
• Employers' positive duty: employers must take reasonable and proportionate steps to eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment and hostile workplaces as far as possible; the Australian Human Rights Commission has had power to enforce it since 12 December 2023.
• Discrimination can be raised with the Fair Work Commission, the Australian Human Rights Commission or your state or territory body. Use one route only: a complaint elsewhere about the same conduct generally rules out a Fair Work Commission dispute.

Who is outside the national system

The Fair Work Act covers most private-sector employees, and every employer in the ACT and the NT (except NT police). Outside it:

• NSW, Queensland and SA: state public sector and local government employees.
• Tasmania: state government employees (local government is in the national system).
• Victoria: state public sector executives and some senior managers, and law enforcement officers.
• Western Australia: the state public sector, all local government, and employees of employers that are not companies, such as sole traders, partnerships, unincorporated trusts, households and some not-for-profits.

These employees use their state system: for example the South Australian Employment Tribunal, or the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission, where an unfair dismissal claim must be made within 28 days. Private-sector employees in WA's state system can call Wageline on 1300 655 266. Employees outside the national system can still bring an unlawful termination claim in the Fair Work Commission for a prohibited reason, within 21 days.

Workers compensation

Workers compensation is a state and territory insurance scheme, separate from the Fair Work system; each state and territory has its own regulator, and Comcare covers Commonwealth employees.

Recent and coming changes

• 1 July 2026: new minimum wage and award rates, high income threshold, compensation cap and Commission fee; super paid with each pay.
• 7 July 2026: general protections dismissal disputes proceed on an alleged dismissal, and unfair dismissal cases can be decided on the papers if both sides agree.
• 20 October 2026: anyone who uses generative AI to prepare a document for the Commission must say so and how, and check the document.
• 26 October 2026: a working-from-home request clause starts in the Clerks Award.
• Proposed only: a ban on non-compete clauses for workers earning under $190,100, from 2027. Draft laws were released on 7 September 2026; no Act had been passed at 23 October 2026.