Who can make an unfair dismissal claim?
Any employee who is covered by a modern award, whose employment is covered by an enterprise agreement or who earns less than $100,000 per annum is eligible to bring an unfair dismissal claim, no matter how big or small the business that employs them. However, Fair Work does retain exclusions for true casual employees, and employees whose employment ends because a specific task is completed (such as seasonal employees), or a period has ended (fixed term employees). However, an employee must have been employed by the employer for at least six months to be entitled to bring an unfair dismissal claim, or 12 months if employed by a small business employer. The new small business provisions Under Fair Work a new concept of a small business employer has been introduced. A small business employer is an employer who employs less than 15 employees. Until 31 December 2010 the test is whether the business employs fewer than 15 employees on a full time equivalent basis. From 1 January 2011 a small
