General Protections Dispute - Termination Claim (21 Days)

If you have been dismissed from your job, you may be eligible to make
either:

• an unfair dismissal claim to the Fair Work Commission (FWC); or
• a General Protections Dispute – Termination (GPD-T) claim to FWC if the termination of your employment was unlawful ‘adverse action’.

You must choose to make either an unfair dismissal claim or a GPD-T claim (or another claim e.g. a discrimination complaint under the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act 2010) because you can only make one claim at a time in relation to the termination of your employment.

Note: You have 21 days from the date your dismissal took effect to file your General Protections Dispute – Termination claim.

What are my rights?

Your employer must not take unlawful ‘adverse action’ against you (for example, terminate your employment) because or partly because of one or more of the following reasons:

• your race, colour, sex, sexual preference, age, physical or mental  disability, marital status, family or carer’s responsibilities, pregnancy, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin;
• you have taken a temporary absence from work due to illness or injury in accordance with the Act’s regulations;
• you have a workplace right;
• you have exercised or not exercised a workplace right;
• you propose to or propose not to exercise a workplace right;
• to prevent you from exercising a workplace right;
• trade union membership or non-membership; or
• you engaged in industrial activity

What is adverse action?

For the purposes of this infosheet, ‘adverse action’ means terminating your employment or dismissing you from your job. If you have not been dismissed but have been demoted, treated less favourably than other employees, or not offered employment for an unlawful reason, contact the Fair Work Ombudsman.

You have 21 days to file your claim in a federal court from the date of the unlawful adverse action if you have not been dismissed. The FWC may first hold a conference but only if your employer voluntarily agrees to attend. ‘Adverse action’ does not include an action that is authorised by a federal law or state and territory laws that are listed in the Act or its regulations.

For more information about how to apply for a General Protections Dispute – Termination Claim, download the full fact sheet.

For further support

Call our Telephone Information Service on Melbourne Metro (03) 9662 1933 or Regional Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania on 1800 331 617.