Summary of FWC Annual Report 2018-19

In late-October, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) published its Annual Report for the 2018-19 financial year; the Report was also tabled in Parliament. The ‘performance reporting’ section outlined the following results of interest (in brief summary):

Unfair Dismissal (UD):

  • Consistent with previous reporting years, UD applications represented more than 40% of all applications made to the FWC. Across Australia, 13,928 UD applications were lodged in 2018-19 (several hundred more than 2017-18), with peak periods reflecting similar trends to previous years (e.g. July, December & March).
  • 8,161 UD applications settled at the conciliation stage with 50% of conciliated matters being finalised within 39 days from date of lodgement.
  • 18% of applications settled at the conciliation stage resulted in non-monetary outcomes (e.g. statement of service) with 63% settling for some form of financial outcome. In 55 instances (less than 1%) employers agreed to reinstatement.
  • Of the 63% of conciliated matters that settled for a monetary outcome, 26% settled for an amount between $2,000 to $3,999; 19% settled for an amount between $4,000 to $5,999 with the next most common monetary outcome being in the $1,000 to $1,999 range (14% of matters).
  • The Commission made decisions on the merits of 229 unfair dismissal applications that did not settle at the conciliation stage in 2018-19. Of these, it found in 89 (39%) cases that the dismissal was fair.
  • With respect to the 140 cases determined to constitute an unfair dismissal, compensation was the primary remedy awarded (96 cases) with over a quarter of applicants awarded an amount in the range of $2,000 to $5,999. Another third (approx.) of applicants were awarded sizeable compensation between $10,000 to $29,999. Reinstatement was awarded in 13 cases.
  • Eleven additional dismissals were held to be unfair but the applicants were not granted any form of remedy (compensation).

General Protections Dismissal (GPD):

  • 4508 GPD applications were lodged across Australia in 2018-19, an increase of nearly 400 applications on the previous year.
  • 50% of GPD matters were finalised within 43 days of lodgement, five days faster than the average of 48 days in the previous year.
  • 1879 GPD cases involving dismissal were resolved at conciliation; all of these settled for a monetary amount, the most prevalent outcome (22%) being in the $2,000 to $3,999 range, followed by outcomes in the $4,000 to $5,999 range (14%) and the $1,000 to $1,999 range (15%) 11 GPD cases (<1%) settled at conciliation for an amount in excess of $100,000. All of these figures closely reflect reported outcomes for the 2017-18 year.

Anti-Bullying:

  • In figures similar to 2017-18, the FWC processed 751 applications with only two applications resulting in an order being issued to ‘stop the bullying’; 660 applications were withdrawn before or during the conciliation process or were settled prior to the Commission issuing a formal decision.
  • The process for dealing with anti-bullying applications commenced, in most cases, within 24 hours of the application being received by the FWC.