See Fair Work Act 2009 s.386
The term dismissed is defined in the Fair Work Act as a situation where:
- a person’s employment has been terminated at the employer’s initiative, or
- a person was forced to resign because of the conduct or course of conduct engaged in by the employer.
A dismissal does NOT include where:
- a person is demoted in his or her employment without a significant reduction in duties or remuneration and remains employed by the employer,
- a person was employed under a contract for a specified period of time, specified task or for the duration of a specified season and the employment comes to an end at the end of that period, or
- a person had a training arrangement with their employer which:
- specified that the employment was limited to the duration of the training arrangement, and
- whose employment ends at the end of that training arrangement.
Exception
A person employed under a contract for a specified period of time, specified task or for the duration of a specified season and the employment comes to an end at the end of that period, could be considered to have been dismissed if a substantial purpose of the employment of the person under a contract of that kind was so that the employer could avoid their obligations under the unfair dismissal provisions of the Fair Work Act.[1]