Amendment to the Operation of Unfair Dismissal Laws

7 December 2001 - The Governor-General has authorised Regulations under the Workplace Relations Act 1996 regarding the exclusion of casual employees from termination of employment remedies.

Last month the Federal Court of Australia invalidated an earlier Regulation excluding short-period casual employees from the Workplace Relations Act’s termination of employment remedies on technical grounds. The Federal Court’s decision in the case of Hamzy v Tricon International Restaurants trading as KFC [2001] FCA 1589 had the effect of allowing short-period casual employees to benefit from termination of employment remedies after only 3 months employment.

This new Regulation restores the exclusion of short-period casual employees, while taking into account the technical issues identified by the Federal Court.

As of today, casual employees who have been working for a particular employer for less than 12 months are excluded from the Workplace Relations Act termination of employment remedies.

According to the Government, the new Regulation implements an important part of the Government’s policy on unfair dismissal laws in that it ensures that 'unfair dismissal laws do not unreasonably burden employers when making decisions to employ or dismiss staff.'