Tool Box
Issue No. 44 - December/January 2008
Unfair dismissal changes take effect
by Mr Shayne Bakewell
The Federal Government has recently announced a new process for unfair dismissals, which includes special arrangements for small business owners. These changes are expected to come into effect from 1 July 2009. Under the proposed laws, the exemption from unfair dismissal for employers who are constitutional corporations with less than 100 employees will be removed.
However, employers with less than 15 employees (includes full-time, part-time and long-term casual employees) will be able to avoid unfair dismissal claims by demonstrating that they have complied with the new Fair Dismissal Code for Small Business. Such an employer will be defined as a small employer or small business.
Employees of small employers who have less than 12 months service will also be excluded from lodging an unfair dismissal claim. For larger employers the qualifying period remains at 6 months.
Code for Small Business requirements
For a dismissal to meet the requirements of the Fair Dismissal Code, the small employer must be able to demonstrate the following:
• The employer must give the employee: - a valid reason, based on the employee’s conduct or capacity to do the job, and why the employee is at risk of being dismissed.
This does not apply in the case of serious misconduct in which case no warning is required. Please note that under the code, the employee’s conduct must be sufficiently serious to justify immediate dismissal (e.g. theft, fraud, vi...
