Multiple actions relating to dismissal

See Fair Work Act ss.725‒733

When a person is dismissed, it may be necessary to choose one of several available options for challenging the dismissal (apart from a general protections application there could for example, be a right to make an unfair dismissal application or a claim under anti-discrimination laws).

The Fair Work Act 2009 contains provisions which allow only one application to be made (a single action) in relation to a dismissal. Multiple actions for the same conduct are not permitted.[1]

Multiple actions found

Application to Australian Human Rights Commission

Alex v Costco Wholesale Australia [2014] FWC 1904 (Gostencnik DP, 20 March 2014).

An employee made a general protections dismissal dispute application to the Commission after his dismissal.

The employer objected on the basis that the employee had also made an application to the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in which the employee alleged that his dismissal was discriminatory and related to his race and colour. The employee argued that the multiple action prohibition did not apply because the AHRC complaint dealt with discrimination alleged to have occurred during employment and consequently was not a dismissal complaint.

The Commission concluded that the multiple actions provisions of the Fair Work Act operated as a bar to the general protections application being made because the AHRC complaint was a complaint made under another law by the applicant in relation to the dismissal and it had not been withdrawn nor failed for want of jurisdiction at the time the general protections dismissal dispute application was made.