Since the Rudd Government fulfilled an election promise to deliver a ‘simpler, fairer and faster’ unfair dismissal system for employers
Since the Rudd Government fulfilled an election promise to deliver a ‘simpler, fairer and faster’ unfair dismissal system for employers and employees back in July, there have been 2,570 applications made Australia-wide.
In a statement released yesterday by Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the Government says it anticipated an increase in the number of unfair dismissal claims due to coverage being extended to around 3 million additional employees.
According to Gillard, 1,704 or 66 percent of these applications are being dealt with efficiently through the new conciliation process.
A further 1,420 or 81 percent of cases processed have already been resolved at or before conciliation.
The majority of applications (1,533) have been dealt with through telephone conciliation, while 171 have been handled in person.
Gillard says at the last election, the Australian people made it clear they believed the Liberal Party’s Work Choices laws went too far.
“Work Choices allowed hard working employees to be dismissed for no good reason or no reason at all and without remedy,” she says.
“The Rudd Government’s new workplace relations system, Fair Work, gets the balance right and ensures all Australian employees are treated decently and fairly at work.”
Under Fair Work, employers have six months to trial new employees and small businesses have a full 12 months.