How to write a witness statement
What is a witness statement?
A witness statement is a document that sets out what a witness says about your case.
If you want to bring a witness to a hearing, you must file and serve (formally give the other side) a witness statement made by them by the deadline in the directions made by the Fair Work Commission (the Commission). If you do not file and serve a witness statement in time, the Commission might not let that witness give evidence at your hearing.
You will need to prepare a witness statement for yourself and get one from each of your other witnesses.
Is there a form to use?
There is no standard form for a witness statement, but it should:
- be on one side of A4 paper and be typed or neatly handwritten.
- start with the full name, address and occupation of the person making the statement.
For example:
I, Umberto D'Avanzo of 58 Sample Street, Parramatta NSW 2148, computer technician state:
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- have numbered paragraphs. Try and put one fact or idea in each paragraph.
- be signed on the last page by the person making the statement with the date next to their signature.
What should be in a witness statement
Only include what you know
The statement should only include things that the person making the statement saw or heard or did. Don't include rumours or gossip.
You will need to prepare a witness statement for yourself and get one from each of your other witnesses.
Include the important information about your employment in your witness statement
In your statement, include all the important information about your employment like:
- when you signed your contract
- when you started work and the position you started in
- the date of any promotion and the name of your new position
- details of any change of duties
- details of any performance meetings or meetings about complaints
- when you were told you were dismissed, and what you were told about why you were being dismissed
- the date of your last day of work.
For more information on what evidence you might need to support your case, see
Evidence.
Include dates or date ranges
If you want to refer to a date but you are not sure when something happened, you can give a date range or say "on or about" a date.
For example:
1. On a date between 1 April and 15 April 2011, I was told by Ms Merger that there was a complaint from the client about the standard of my work. |
2. I had a meeting with Wanda Merger, Human Resources Manager on or about 15 April 2011. |
Write down what people said
If you want to write down what someone said to you or things you said to someone else, you should put what was said in quotation marks.
For example:
3. I said to Ms Merger, "What is this complaint about?"
Ms Merger said, "I will give you a copy of the complaint" |
If you cannot remember exactly what was said but you remember the gist of the words you can say:
4. I said to Ms Merger words to the effect of, "This complaint is rubbish". |
Attaching documents
When you talk about a document in a witness statement you should attach a copy of that document to the end of the statement.
These documents are then called 'attachments'. You should label the top of the first page of each attachment with a letter. The first page of the first attachment would be labelled "A". The first page of the second attachment would be labelled "B".
In your statement you can refer to this document like this:
5. On 15 February 2012, I received an email from Ms Merger, the Human Resources Manager at Left Right Out Industries Pty Ltd. This email said that I was not to come into work the next day. Attached and marked "A" is a copy of that email. |
More help
When you have prepared your witness statements, you should file and serve them. For information on how to file and serve a witness statement, see
Preparing for the hearing - Step by step guide.
For more information about preparing legal documents and writing statements, see
Reading and writing legal documents.