Wednesday, 23 July 2014

FAIR WORK COMMISSION’S EOFY CHANGES

Employers and employees – take note of the changes to the Fair Work Commission’s application fees, high income threshold and compensation awards that came into effect on 1 July 2014:

Fair Work Commission application fee

The Commission’s application fee to file an unfair dismissal application, general protections application and anti-bullying application has increased to $67.20 (see regulation 3.02 of the Fair Work Regulations 2009).

There has been no change to the time limit on making applications involving a dismissal, which is 21 days from the dismissal taking effect. 

High income threshold

To bring an unfair dismissal claim, employees must have been employed for over 6 months (or 12 for those employed by Small Business Employers) and either earn under the high income threshold, or have their employment covered by a Modern Award or an Enterprise Agreement (see section 382 of the Fair Work Act 2009). 

The high income threshold is now $133,000 (see regulation 2.13 of the Fair Work Regulations 2009).
The high income threshold includes wages, salary sacrifice amounts and non-monetary benefits.  
It does not include reimbursements, employer superannuation contributions, or payments that cannot be calculated in advance, for example bonuses that are reliant on an employee’s performance.

Compensation limits

For unfair dismissal applications relating to dismissals occurring on or after 1 July 2014, the Commission can award an employee a maximum of 26 weeks pay for compensation for their lost earnings.  This amount cannot exceed $66,500, which is half of the high income threshold (see section 392 of the Fair Work Act).

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