If you are an employee working in NSW, you will be covered by national employment laws about general protections in the workplace unless you are employed by the NSW government, a local council, or a NSW state government owned corporation.
Independent contractors may be covered in certain situations, but you should get
legal advice.
Laws about general protections in the workplace and who they apply to are complicated. If you are not sure whether they cover you, you should get
legal advice.
If laws about general protections in the workplace do not apply to you, you may still have rights under other laws. You should get
legal advice if you have been dismissed or are having problems at work. You may have other options, such as:
- unfair dismissal claim if you were dismissed (for more information, see
Unfair dismissal)
- discrimination claim (if you have been discriminated against at work)
- bullying claim (if you have not been dismissed but are experiencing workplace bullying).
Time limits
If you want to make a general protections dismissal application to the Commission, you must do so within 21 days of the date you were dismissed.
The Commission may accept late applications, but usually only in exceptional cases.
It is possible to make a general protections application even if you have not been dismissed. If you were not dismissed, but a general protection has been breached by your employer, a time limit of six years applies if you want to ask the court for an order. However, it is a good idea to make your application as soon as possible and get
legal advice straight away.
For more information, see
Time limits.
For a handy tool that you can use to help you work out if you can make a general protections application, see 
Checklist: Making a general protections application.
For answers to commonly asked questions, see
Can you apply? - Frequently Asked Questions.