Industrial laws have a complex area of application. They involve many aspects because the laws apply to companies and employees and how they perform their work and operations.

In 2012, the Fair Work Commission received approximately 15,000 applications for unfair dismissal nationally. It would be coy in the extreme for an employer if they did not anticipate that an application would be made against them.

The fact is that it costs an aggrieved employee approximately $65 to file an unfair dismissal application. If, during the proceedings, the matter is settled for, say, $2,000 as opposed to running the entire case, the applicant can take the view that it was worth making the application.

It must be understood that to run a case and defend it, the employer is going to incur costs. It is very easy for the direct costs to escalate to $5,000, or $10,000 or even more to defend the matter and application at a hearing.

Those are the direct costs, but there are also indirect costs such as the employer witnesses and the statements being taken and filed and their attendance at the hearing. While all that is going on, the employer witnesses are not performing work for the company; that can also be a significant cost.

The commission is primarily a “no costs” jurisdiction. Both parties, the employer and the employee, are to bear their own costs.

There is also another agency called the Fair Work Ombudsman. An employee can make a complaint to the ombudsman without any charge. They can do so online and then the complaint will be investigated. If it decides to do so, the Fair Work Ombudsman will prosecute the matter without charge or costs to the employee.

In the event of an unfair dismissal application or complaint to the Fair Work Ombudsman, attention will centre on the processes used by the employer, the degree of compliance with the provisions of the legislation or award provisions and most importantly the written evidentiary trail so that the matter or application can be defended either at a conciliation conference or at a hearing.

I work with many companies. A lot of them are in the printing industry. These issues and processes are common to all businesses.

It follows that getting advice before an employer acts in any industrial relations matter is money well spent. This can ensure that the trail of evidence is established. This trail is critical to any defence of the actions of the company in any matter.

Getting advice before the employer acts is a commercial decision for the employer and one that must be considered as part of the process of the operations of a company.

John Tamplin is managing director of Solutions For The Workplace. He has worked in industrial relations for more than 30 years

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