It cost our client more than $3,000 in defending an unfair dismissal claim for not following our advice

Many employers live in fear of an unfair dismissal claim and for very good reason.  Employees have easy access to information and so are increasingly informed about their workplace rights.  It’s also a very inexpensive and easy process for a claim to be made.  Understanding your rights and obligations when it comes to unfair dismissal is essential for employers to be able to navigate their way through defending an unfair dismissal claim. 

HR Business Direction was recently contacted by a client who wished to terminate the employment of an employee who had been stealing from them.  The client had video evidence of the theft and there was little doubt that the employee had stolen cash from the business.

In this case, the client had a very clear right to summarily dismiss the employee (i.e dismiss her without notice).  We advised that, so long as a reasonable process was followed, the employee would not be able to sustain an unfair dismissal claim.  This was particularly the case given that the client was both a small business employer and the employee had been employed for less than the minimum employment period required to enable her to sustain such a claim.

The client dismissed the employee and she subsequently filed an unfair dismissal claim.  However, in an effort to save costs, the client decided to represent itself at the unfair dismissal conciliation conference.  Unfortunately, despite our advice that the client had valid jurisdictional objections to the claim (i.e. because the employee had not worked for the minimum employment period and the employer was a small business employer and had complied with the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code), the client attended the conciliation and settled the matter for several weeks’ pay.  This occurred because, without sufficient knowledge of the laws and process, our client failed to press the jurisdictional objection which should have seen the claim withdrawn.

We estimate that the client’s efforts to save money resulted in a cost of approximately $3,000, including the down time for 2 staff members to prepare for and attend the conference.

HR Business Direction can provide you with advice and assistance to resolve your industrial relations issues.  We pride ourselves in identifying solutions that are cost effective and simple to implement.