The term unfair dismissal means an employee was fired unfairly according to the Fair Work Act of 2009. If a worker believes he or she has been fired for no reason, there are steps to take in order to regain your job, get unemployment benefits and to have the dismissal removed from work records.
The laws are virtually the same in the United States as well as the United Kingdom and Australia.
What constitutes unfair dismissal?
A few examples of unfair dismissal in all regions include but not limited to are:
1. Being dismissed while on maternity leave;
2. The actual dismissal did not adhere to company policy;
3. The dismissal is based on gender;
4. Sexual Harassment;
5. If there is actually no valid reason on the employer’s part and it can be proven.
The dismissed employee has to prove that the employer has dismissed him or her wrongly. A lot of times, this is tough to do as it will come down to he said, she said, if there is no documentation or proof that can be referred back to. Of course, some employees claim that being late often, not completing work, etc., constitutes an unfair dismissal. While in some cases that may be true, the fact remains that a company will have guidelines in place for such transgressions. Typically, most companies will have a policy that termination is possible after being late 3 times or if a certain number of work requirements daily/weekly are not met. These scenarios will be quite clearly recorded in the employee handbook.
How can I prove Unfair Dismissal?
The employer, as well, will have to have documentation to prove his/her case to justify a dismissal in order to avoid an unfair dismissal. Employers do not want to have an unemployment claim on their record no more than the employee does as it could cost them a lot of money in the long run.
If the employee feels they have been dismissed unfairly, a time limit of up to six months from the date of the dismissal to file a complaint. Additionally, a continuous time frame for working for that employer is 12 months. Special circumstances do come into play in both time frames. The commissioner presiding over a case will be the one to make a decision on special circumstances.
Applying for an unfair dismissal is done through the Rights Commissioner at the US Department of Labor or Employee Tribunal Commissioner throughout the United Kingdom. The Legal Services Commission of Australia has extensive information for the employee so that the employee can determine if an unfair dismissal has occurred. The United States has the same information for their works at the Department of Labor.