Protecting your workplace rights and entitlements
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The general protections law does not cover people employed by state or local governments.
State and local government employees may be entitled to make an unlawful termination claim after a dismissal. Get legal advice from a private lawyer.
When you need legal advice
Get legal advice if you have experienced:
- a breach of employment contract, award or agreement
- a breach of general protections
- unpaid wages, benefits or entitlements
- bullying, harassment or discrimination at work
- employment under a sham contracting arrangement
- another genuine dispute with a current or former employer
- an ongoing dispute with your bank or financial institution.
How to get legal advice
General protections and adverse actions
General protections ensure rights for workers and make it illegal for employers to take adverse actions against employees based on prohibited reasons like:
- exercising or not exercising a workplace right (e.g. making a complaint or enquiry about your pay)
- proposing to exercise a workplace right
- being coerced to exercise, or not exercise, a workplace right
- being discriminated against
- taking time off work if you are sick or injured
- belonging, or not belonging, to a trade union
- being involved, or not involved, in industrial activities
- being treated as an independent contractor when you are an employee (e.g. you’re working under a sham contract).
It’s against the law for an employer or fellow employee to take, or threaten, adverse action, including:
- dismissing you
- demoting you
- not giving you your legal entitlements
- changing your job to your disadvantage
- treating you differently than others
- refusing to hire you.
Who is covered by general protections law?
General protections cover, but are not limited to:
- employees, including prospective employees
- independent contractors, including prospective independent contractors
- labour hire workers.
The law protects individuals who work for:
The general protections law does not cover people employed by state or local governments.
State and local government employees may be entitled to make an unlawful termination claim after a dismissal. Get legal advice from a private lawyer.
Making a general protections application
If you think your employer has breached your general protections by taking or threatening adverse action against you, you can lodge a claim.
If your claim is about a dismissal, you have 21 days from the date of your dismissal to make a general protections application to the Fair Work Commission.
If your general protections claim is not about a dismissal, you have 6 years from the day of the breach to make a claim in the Fair Work Commission, Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia or Federal Court of Australia.
You may be able to resolve your dispute without lodging a general protections claim with the Fair Work Commission. Speak to a lawyer about your options.
If you do make a claim, you may not be able to take other forms of legal action to resolve your dispute, for example, an unfair dismissal or discrimination claim.
You will have to pay a fee when you file your general protections claim but can request to have this waived if it would cause serious hardship.
Once the commission has received your application:
- it will schedule a conciliation conference with you and your employer, if they agree, to resolve your dispute
- your employer will be given a copy of your application and must submit a written response.
Unsuccessful conciliation conferences about dismissal
If your matter remains unresolved after a conciliation conference and the Fair Work Commission is satisfied all reasonable attempts were made to resolve the dispute, or are unlikely to be successful, they will issue a certificate stating this.
Once you have the certificate, you can choose to:
You have 14 days from the date of the certificate to apply to the Fair Work Commission, Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (or Federal Court of Australia).
Unsuccessful conciliation conferences while you’re still employed
If your matter isn’t resolved at the conciliation conference and the Fair Work Commission doesn’t think it will be successful, they should let you know.
If no conference was held (because your employer didn’t agree to participate), or if it was held and no agreement was reached, you can apply to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (or Federal Court of Australia) to deal with the matter.
Legal costs
If your matter goes to arbitration in the Fair Work Commission or a hearing in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (or Federal Court of Australia), each party usually pays their own costs.
In some situations, the commission or court may make an order for one party to pay the legal costs of the other party.
How to get legal advice
We don’t give legal advice about:
- enterprise bargaining or modern awards
- unfair dismissal or unlawful termination for state and local government employees
- breach of contract matters
- matters that apply to employers and genuine independent contractors.
We may give legal advice to employees on employment matters.
Contact us
Other places to get legal advice:
Who else can help?
Related information
Disclaimer: This content is for general purposes only and not legal advice. If you have a legal problem, please contact us or speak to a lawyer. View our full disclaimer.
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