After the case - General protections dismissal

If you made a general protections application about your dismissal, the case will end when one of the following has happened:

• you reach an agreement with your employer
• you discontinue (end) the case
• the Fair Work Commission makes a decision after arbitration 
• the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia makes a decision after a hearing.

 This section will help you if you have come to an agreement to settle your case, or the Fair Work Commission or Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia has made a decision in your case. If you have been to a mediation or conciliation conference at the Fair Work Commission (the Commission) and the Commission issued a certificate, the next step is to either:

• apply for the Commission to arbitrate your case (if you and your employer agree)
• apply to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. For information on this, see Going to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia .

After the case has ended, you should consider the following:

Enforcing agreements

If you settled the case with your employer, they may have agreed to reinstate you or pay you compensation. If your employer does not do what they agreed, it is possible to enforce the agreement.

For more information, see Enforcing agreements.

Enforcing orders

If your employer doesn't follow an order made by the Fair Work Commission or Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, it is possible to enforce the order.

For more information, see Enforcing orders.

Appeals

If you are unhappy with the decision of the Fair Work Commission or the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, you may be able to appeal.

Appealing a decision of the Fair Work Commission

If you think the Fair Work Commission (the Commission) has made a mistake in your case, you may be able to ask permission to appeal within 21 days.

You may be able to appeal if you think the Commission made a mistake about the law or about what happened. This is called an 'error of fact'.

Before you appeal, you should get legal advice. If the Commission thinks that your appeal case was clearly weak and you had no chance of winning, it can order you to pay the respondent's legal costs in the appeal case.

For more information, see Appealing the decision of the Fair Work Commission.

Appealing a decision of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia

If you are unhappy with the Court’s decision, you may be able to appeal within 28 days of the decision.

You may be able to appeal a decision if you think the Court made a mistake about the law. This is called an 'error of law'.

You can’t appeal if you think the Court wrongly decided the facts. This is called an ‘error of fact’.

Before you appeal, you should get legal advice. If your appeal is dismissed, you may be ordered to pay the other party’s legal costs.

For more information, see Appealing the Court’s decision.

Frequently Asked Questions