With 3500 unfair dismissal claims between Jan and March 2019, a whopping 81% of arbitrated claims have been dismissed. BUT the cost to pet industry business is horrendous, with many employers being forced to endure the cost, time and complexity of the system.

Under current rules, pet businesses with less than 15 workers are subject to the Small Business
Unfair Dismissal Code, which the Fair Work Commission (FWC) considers before it decides if an employee has been dismissed harshly, unjustly or unreasonably.
The code notes that full-time, part-time or regular casual workers can’t make unfair dismissal claims against small businesses if they’ve been employed for less than 12 months. It also enables small-business owners to dismiss a worker after just one warning, rather than the three-step feedback process required for larger firms.
The Code has protections for cases of genuine redundancy, (eg in business downturn) and lists employee rights as well.

But the protections aren’t doing their job, with employees stating actions when they are not warranted – resulting in lots of businesses getting sucked into unfair dismissal hearings.

If an disgruntled employee Googles “unfair dismissal advice” a huge list of no-win-no-fee lawyers appear wanting to take a case even if they know they will lose. And in addition, many “for profit” lawyers support spurious complaints in the hope that business owners will relent and pay “go away”
money.

The whole Code needs a re-write, and Pets Australia will be representing the industry lobbying for change.