Jurisdictional objections to an unfair dismissal claim

Before the Commission looks at whether a dismissal was harsh, unjust or unreasonable, it has to be satisfied the employee can bring the claim at all. These are the objections employers most often raise — and they go in your Form F3.

Minimum employment period

An employee can only claim unfair dismissal if they had completed the minimum employment period: 6 months, or 12 months if the employer is a small business employer (fewer than 15 employees, counting associated entities). Casual service can count where it was regular and systematic and there was a reasonable expectation of continuing work.

High income threshold

An employee who is not covered by a modern award or enterprise agreement, and whose annual earnings were above the high income threshold, can't claim unfair dismissal. The threshold is indexed every 1 July: it is $190,100 for dismissals taking effect on or after 1 July 2026, and was $183,100 for dismissals between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026. If an award or agreement covered the employee, the threshold doesn't apply.

Genuine redundancy

A dismissal that was a genuine redundancy is not an unfair dismissal — but it is the employer that has to make it out. Three things have to hold:

• you no longer required the person's job to be done by anyone, because of changes in the operational requirements of the business;
• you complied with any obligation to consult about the redundancy in an applicable modern award or enterprise agreement; and
• it would not have been reasonable to redeploy the person within your business or an associated entity.

Small Business Fair Dismissal Code

If you are a small business employer and the dismissal was consistent with the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code, the dismissal is taken to be fair. The Code covers summary dismissal for serious misconduct and dismissal after warnings about performance or conduct — keeping records of what you did is what lets you show compliance.

Lodged out of time

An unfair dismissal application must be lodged within 21 days after the dismissal took effect. The Commission can allow a late application only in exceptional circumstances, so if the application was late you can object and address why an extension shouldn't be granted.

Other objections

Other threshold questions include whether there was a dismissal at all (for example, a genuine resignation), and whether the employer is covered by the national workplace relations system rather than a state system.

Raising an objection

Objections go in the "details of any objection" part of the Form F3. WorkForceHelp checks your documents against each of these thresholds, surfaces the ones that look relevant, and drafts them into your response for you to review. It doesn't predict whether an objection will succeed — that's for the Commission, and for advice if you need it.

General information about the Fair Work Commission process, not legal advice about your matter. WorkForceHelp is not the Fair Work Commission and is not affiliated with it.