Examples of unfair dismissal cases reported through the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations
Since the Federal WorkChoices laws were introduced on 27 March 2006, the Queensland Department of Employment and Industrial Relations has received a number of reports of employees who appear to have been unfairly dismissed.
Employees in businesses covered by the new laws, with 100 or fewer people, are no longer able to claim for unfair dismissal.
The Queensland Government is doing all it can to help employees through this period and is reviewing reports on a case-by-case basis. If applicable, it will approach the Federal Government or local community groups for additional assistance to help employees fight for their rights.
Some examples of unfair dismissals reported to the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations include (as at 21 March 2007):
- a man was dismissed for refusing to work seven days a week because he wanted to spend at least one day every couple of weeks with his family;
- employees accessing their annual leave entitlements are being replaced - employees are becoming fearful of using their annual leave after reports that employees are told by their employers on their last day before leave, during their ‘recreational’ leave or on their first day returning to work that they have been replaced;
- a Brisbane employee who was into her third month of maternity leave was informed by her employer she had resigned
- a man with 3 years service was sacked for taking sick leave which required hospitalisation
- a Mt Gravatt woman had her employment terminated without warning despite having passed work reviews without any problems. The woman has no idea why her employment was terminated.
- a Cairns employee was sacked for taking a sick day after working full time for six months. The employee notified her employer and was terminated several hours later via a text message
- a Rockhampton male employee was presented with a new employment contract and told if he didn’t sign he could look for work elsewhere
- an injured male working as a sales representative on the Gold Coast was dismissed via email on 27 March – the first day the WorkChoices laws came into full force
- a female manager in a North Queensland motel was told by the owner to take on extra maintenance duties or ‘finish up’
- a man with 13 years service was made redundant (without redundancy pay) after refusing to sign an alternative employment contract which took him from a full-time employee to a three day casual employee.
Cases have also been reported to the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations where the threat of dismissal has been used to force employees to take cuts in wages and conditions. These include:
- a woman with 16 years service had her employment status changed from full-time to casual with her employer stating that her customer service skills were not up to standard
- a hairdressing employer wanted to change the employment status of staff from full-time to casual to avoid public holiday payments over Easter
- a Gold Coast restaurant employee had their hourly rate reduced and overtime entitlement removed
- a southside Brisbane business was voluntarily sold with no warning or indication of impending job losses
If you feel you have been dismissed unfairly or would like more information on the impact of the Federal WorkChoices laws, we urge employees and employers to contact the Workplace Rights Hotline on 1300 737 841.
Additional information is available from the sites to the top right of this page which may also help you navigate your way through the Federal changes.
Last updated 10 August 2007
