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Respond to an unfair dismissal claim

We will help you defend the claim, get it off your desk, and get back to running the business.

The form arrives with a deadline on it. The employee has twenty-one days from the dismissal to lodge, and you have seven days from service to file your response. That response is not a formality. It frames the matter for everyone who touches it afterwards, including the conciliator. We prepare it, run the conciliation, and tell you early what the claim is actually worth.

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A response that frames the matter

The document everyone reads first sets out your version, supported by the record.

Objections raised in time

Jurisdictional points are identified and put on early, while they are still available.

A commercial read on settling

You get a straight comparison between what the claim will settle for and what defending it costs.

What happens when an unfair dismissal claim is filed?

The employee lodges an application with the Fair Work Commission within twenty-one days of the dismissal taking effect. You are served and have seven days to file a response setting out your side and any jurisdictional objections. The matter is then listed for conciliation, a private telephone conference with a conciliator and no formal evidence.

Most matters end there. Those that do not proceed to a hearing, where evidence is given and tested. The Commission then decides whether the dismissal was harsh, unjust or unreasonable under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act). The remedies are reinstatement or compensation, and compensation is capped at six months’ pay. Costs are not usually awarded, so each side pays for itself regardless of the outcome.

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How long do I have to respond?

Seven days from the day you are served with the application. The employee has twenty-one days from the dismissal to lodge it. Both periods are short, and an extension is not something to count on.

What happens at conciliation?

It is a private telephone conference run by a Commission conciliator. There is no evidence and no decision. The conciliator explores whether the matter can settle. Most unfair dismissal matters resolve at this stage, usually for a sum well below the maximum.

Could I be ordered to take the employee back?

Reinstatement is the primary remedy under the Act, though compensation is ordered far more often. It becomes a real possibility where the dismissal was unfair and the working relationship could still function. That is one reason employers take these matters seriously rather than ignoring them.

Will the business be named publicly?

If the matter is decided, yes. Decisions are published and searchable, and they name the employer. Matters that settle at conciliation are confidential and produce no published decision. That difference is worth weighing when you decide whether to settle.

The response is the document that frames everything after it

Send us the application and tell us what happened. We will tell you where the claim is weak, what it is likely to settle for, and what your response should say.

Defending a claim is a strategy, not a denial

An employee you dismissed for what you considered good reason has filed a claim. You have a short deadline, a form asking questions you have not thought about in those terms, and a business to run in the meantime.

The harder part is that being right is not the same as winning. The process asks whether the dismissal was fair, and fairness there includes how you went about it, not only why.

We will review the file and tell you where the claim is strong and where it is not.
We will prepare and file your response within the deadline.
We will raise every jurisdictional objection available to you.
We will run the conciliation and negotiate the terms of any settlement.
We will prepare the matter for hearing if it should be defended.

The claim has arrived and the clock is already running

You dismissed somebody for reasons that seemed obvious at the time. The application says something quite different from what you remember, and reading it is irritating in a way that is hard to put down. There is a filing deadline in days, not weeks. You want to defend it properly, and you also want it gone, and you are not yet sure those are the same thing.

What's included in your unfair dismissal defence service

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Review of the contract, the dismissal record and the application.
Jurisdictional objection assessment.
Response preparation and filing.
Conciliation representation.
Settlement negotiation and deed of release.
Hearing preparation, evidence and submissions.

What happens when a claim is handled the wrong way

Employers lose these on process far more often than on substance. A response filed late, or written from memory by somebody in the business, locks in a version of events the documents do not support. Jurisdictional objections that were available, such as the minimum employment period or the small business code, go unraised and cannot be revived.

Then there is the other failure, which is winning at any cost. Matters that could have settled at conciliation for a modest figure run to hearing because the employer wants to be vindicated. Hearings take management time, put witnesses from your own team under cross-examination, and produce a published decision with the business named in it. Those costs are real and they are not recoverable.

How we take the claim off your desk

We start with the file rather than the feeling. What the contract said, what was put to the employee, what was recorded, and what the dismissal letter actually relied on. That tells us where the claim is strong and where it is not, and it is often different from the employer’s own read.

We raise any jurisdictional objection in the response, because an unraised objection is usually gone. We prepare the response to frame the matter properly, and we run the conciliation, where the great majority of these resolve. We will give you a straight number on what the claim is likely to cost to settle against what it costs to defend. If it should be fought, we prepare it for hearing and put the evidence on properly.

How the claim gets handled

Filed on time, framed properly, and resolved on terms you chose.

Read the file

We review the contract, the record and the dismissal letter to find where the claim is actually weak.

File the response

We prepare the response within the deadline and raise every jurisdictional objection available to you.

Settle or fight

We run the conciliation and give you a straight comparison between settling and going to hearing.

Employer-side defence, from the response through to hearing

The first reaction to one of these is usually indignation, and it is usually warranted. Employers rarely dismiss people casually. Being told you were unfair, by someone you believe was the problem, is not a neutral experience. It makes the commercially sensible decision harder to reach.

We act for employers in these matters, and part of the job is being unsentimental about them. That means telling you where the file will not support the account, and what the claim is realistically worth. The decision to settle or fight should be commercial rather than a reaction. Most of these end at conciliation, and ending there is usually the right outcome.

Our great lawyer guarantee

Six principles we hold to, whatever you bring us and however long it takes.

Take the time

We listen carefully to understand what you want to achieve, then step you through the advice and the documents.

Share our knowledge

We pass on as much as we can, so you can make your own informed decisions.

Stick to our knitting

We only do what we are good at, so you never pay for our learning.

Work as one team

Someone is always available to answer your question or point you the right way.

Fair pricing

A fixed or capped quote for advice and documents, so you do not carry the price risk.

It is your show

We are in it for a front row seat to witness your success, not for our egos.

Get it defended and get it gone

Send us the application and whatever you have on the dismissal. We will tell you where the claim is weak, what it should settle for, and what the response needs to say.

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