Worksheet: Preparing for conciliation

You can print this worksheet and fill it out to help you prepare for your conciliation at the Fair Work Commission (the Commission).

Once you have filled it out, you can keep this worksheet with you during the conciliation and use it to help you remember important information.

Don't give the worksheet to the employer or the Commission. These notes are just for you.

1. Check the time and date of the conciliation

If you have a good reason why you will not be available for the telephone conciliation at the scheduled time, you should contact the Commission straight away.

Write any arrangements you need to make to be available at this time.

For example:

​ar​​ran​ge chil​dcare​​​​​

arrange time off from work

​If you have started a new job and you do not want to discuss your application with your new employer, it is possible to ask the Commission to reschedule your conciliation for a different time or day.

2. Give your contact telephone number(s) to the Commission

Use the contact details on the Notice of Listing to contact the Commission and give them the telephone number or numbers that you want to be contacted on.

• numbers provided

  _______________________

  _______________________

3. Ask for an interpreter if you need one

If you did not request an interpreter in your application, tell the Commission if you want an interpreter. The Commission will arrange one for you.

4. Read your employer's response

Use this space to write down notes about your employer's response to your application, including anything you believe is wrong or misleading.

Has your employer claimed that you are not able to make an application (often called a 'jurisdictional objection')? If you are not sure, have a look at part 4 of your employer's response to your application (Form F3). Make a note of any jurisdictional objection so that you can get legal advice on the issues raised by your employer.

5. Understand how the law applies to your case

Read about unfair dismissal

You should make sure you understand national laws about unfair dismissal and how they apply to you.

Read the materials on this website on What is unfair dismissal? and Can you apply?

Use this space to write down notes about how the law applies to your case. You could write down why you think the dismissal was unfair, for example if you weren't given a reason for the dismissal you could write this. If your employer has raised a jurisdictional objection, you could write down why you don't think this applies in your case.

Find out if you are owed any money

You should also find out whether you are owed any other money by your employer, such as:

• payments in lieu of notice

• underpaid wages

• leave payments or leave loading

• long service leave or other statutory entitlements

• redundancy payments.

To work out what you should have been paid and what you are owed, see Finding employment law.

Use this space to write down notes about any other payments the employer owes you. It is possible to ask for these amounts to be included in any settlement agreement.

Get advice on Centrelink and other payments

Do you get:

Get advice on what will happen to these payments if your employer agrees to pay you compensation to settle the case.

Get legal advice and arrange representation

You should get legal advice.

You can talk to a lawyer about:

• the strength of your case
• what you might get if you went to hearing
• whether you are owed any other amounts of money.

If you want a lawyer to represent you at the conciliation, you should arrange this now.

Use this space to write down notes about how the law affects your case.

6. Think about what you want to end the dispute

Think about what you want to ask for at the conciliation.

Do you want:

Use this space to write down some notes about how this could work.

• Do you think you should return to the same position or a new position?
• Do you want to be moved to another area or location at work?
• Do you want to work different hours?
• Do you want to be treated as if your employment had not stopped (so you will have continued to accrue leave and other entitlements)?
• Is this realistic in your situation?

Weekly gross (before tax) wages: ______________

Use this space to write down notes on the amount you are asking for.

• Compensation is usually described as a certain number of weeks wages.
• Think about whether you would accept a lower amount to settle the case now rather than going to a hearing.

Use this space to write down notes on what you would like to be written in a reference or a statement of service.

At conciliation you can ask for these amounts to be paid to you. This could be part of a settlement agreement. You could not get an order for these amounts if your unfair dismissal case goes to a hearing (you would have to start a second case to get unpaid wages). For help finding out if you are owed any money see Finding​ employment law. If you need more help, you should get leg​al advice.

Use this space to write down any other amounts of money you want to ask for. For example:

• payments in lieu of notice
• underpaid wages
• leave payments or leave loading
• long service leave or other statutory entitlements.

Use this space to write down notes on anything else you want to ask for. For example:

• an agreement that you and your employer will not say bad things about each other
• an agreement that you will resign instead of being dismissed.

7. Organise your documents

Prepare a list of the documents you want to have available during the conciliation. It is helpful to have the documents in order, for example date from earliest to most recent.

Some documents you should have are:

For more information, see Step by step guide: Going t​o conciliation​.​