The Fair Work Commission publishes an annual report outlining the Fair Work Commissions performance for the financial year.
Check out below the key stats:
Unfair Dismissal
- More than half of the claims resolved at conciliation
- Approximately a quarter of the claims resolved prior to conciliation
- 50% of claims were finalised within 30 days, and 90% of claims were finalised within 90 days
- By way of remedy:
- 69% received monetary outcomes
- 11% received reinstatement plus compensation for lost remuneration
- only 4% received reinstatement without compensation
- Medium amount of compensation awarded was $6,971 – equivalent to 4.3 weeks’ pay
- Other compensation ranges include:
- $8,000 –10,000 6%
- $10,000 – 15,000 9%
- $15,000 – 20,000 3%
- $20,000 – 30,000 2.5%
- $30,000 – 40,000 0.7%
- $40,000 – maximum amount 0.6%
Unlawful Terminations
Involving dismissal
- More than half of the claims resolved at conciliation
- For applications resolved at conciliation, outcomes included a mix of monetary payments and non-monetary items (47%), monetary payments only (29 %), non-monetary items only (22%)
- Only a very small number of parties to general protections disputes involving dismissal consented to the Commission deciding the matter by issuing a binding decision in consent arbitration
Not involving dismissal
- 902 applications were lodged and 857 were finalised this year
- 22% of these were withdrawn
- 26% finalised by the member, the dispute was not resolved and proceeded further
- 39% finalised by the member in conference and the dispute was resolved not proceeding any further
Anti-Bullying
- 721 applications were made for a stop bullying order
- 8% were resolved by the Commission issuing a decision or Order
- 33% were resolved during proceedings
Unlawful Terminations
- 90 unlawful termination applications were lodged
- 88 applications were finalised, of which 88% were resolved by the Commission’s conference process without a certificate being issued
Appeals
- Full Benches of the Commission determined a total of 169 appeal matters (including permission to appeal matters)
- Appeals of unfair dismissal decisions were the most common type of appeal accounting for 51 % all appeals finalised in 2017–18
- Of the 86 unfair dismissal appeals heard (including permission to appeal matters), 30% were upheld
- Appeals concerning the approval of enterprise agreements made up the second largest number of matters, increasing to 18% of decisions
In 2017–18, the Federal Court of Australia and the High Court of Australia determined 13 matters on review from the Commission.
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