After conciliation - General protections dismissal
If you agreed at conciliation - Settlement
If you and the employer can agree about how to end the dispute, the Fair Work Commission member (the Commission member) will suggest you put this agreement in writing. You can either use a Deed of Release or a Terms of Agreement.
The Commission may provide you with a Terms of Agreement document to complete and sign. Sometimes the employer may ask to use a Deed of Release instead of Terms of Settlement/Agreement. A Deed of Release is another type of legal document that sets out how you will end the dispute.
Sample: Deed of release
The Terms of Agreement or Deed of Release will usually settle all claims between you and the employer. Before you sign anything, you should be sure that you are not owed any other money or entitlements by your employer. For example, annual leave payments, underpaid wages, long service leave or money for injury claims. If you are owed money or are considering making a claim about an injury, it is possible to write a settlement agreement that only settles the general protections claim and leaves you the option of making other claims.
You should get
legal advice before signing Terms of Agreement or a Deed of Release so that you understand how it will affect you. You should also get advice about whether the Terms of Agreement or Deed of Release will affect your rights to make other claims
Once an agreement has been made and both sides have done what they agreed to do, you should file a Notice of Discontinuance. This tells
the Commission that you do not want to continue with your application.
The Commission may refund your application fee if your case settles.
You should not file a Notice of Discontinuance (a form that ends your case) with
the Commission until your employer has done what they agreed to do in the settlement agreement (for example, paid you the agreed settlement amount).
If your employer does not do what it agreed to in the agreement, it is possible to take steps to enforce the agreement. For more information, see
Enforcing agreements.
If you could not reach agreement at conciliation - Certificate
If you and your employer can't come to an agreement,
Fair Work Commission (the Commission) must issue you with a certificate. The certificate is proof that you went to the mediation or conciliation conference and confirms that you were not able to settle the case.
If the Commission member believes that you don't have a good case, it doesn't have merit, or it doesn't have 'reasonable prospects of success', they should tell you. Sometimes they will write this on the certificate. If the Commission member tells you this or has put this on the certificate, you should get urgent
legal advice before filing any further claims.
Sample: Certificate
Once you have your certificate, it is possible to:
- ask the Commission to arbitrate (a type of hearing) if you and your employer agree
- apply to the Federal Court of Australia or Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.
You must apply within 14 days of
the Commission issuing the certificate.
Both the Commission and the court can make orders:
- stopping your employer from doing things that breach laws about general protections
- for reinstatement (getting your job back or giving you a similar job)
- for compensation.
The Federal Court of Australia or Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia can also make orders that your employer pay a fine in some cases.
For more information about starting a court case, see
Going to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.
Consent arbitration at the Fair Work Commission
If you want the Commission to hold an arbitration hearing and decide your case (and your employer agrees), you will need a Form F8B: notification of agreement - consent arbitration form.
You can get copies of the form from:
Instructions:
Instructions for filling out a Form F8B - Notification of agreement for consent arbitration of a general protections dispute
Sample: Form F8B - Notification of agreement for consent arbitration of a general protections dispute
You can lodge the form:
You should get
legal advice before consenting to having your case heard by the Commission.
The Fair Work Commission will notify you of the date for a hearing and what needs to be done before the hearing, such as filing and serving witness statements and evidence.
For more information about what happens and how to prepare for arbitration in the Commission, see
Arbitration.