Checklist to be completed BEFORE dismissing an employee, for employers with fewer than 15 employees — following the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code is, in practice, the main defence against an unfair dismissal claim in the Fair Work Commission.
⚠️ This is a blank template, not legal advice: check the wording with a lawyer and adapt it to your jurisdiction and your case.
This template has no optional clauses: the text is the same for everyone.
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SMALL BUSINESS FAIR DISMISSAL CODE CHECKLIST
Employer: Employee: Employees at time of dismissal: (must be fewer than 15 for the Code to apply) Employee length of service: months (minimum employment period for an unfair dismissal claim in a small business is 12 months)
This checklist follows the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code published by the Fair Work Ombudsman/Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. A dismissal that is consistent with the Code is taken to be fair for the purposes of an unfair dismissal claim under the Fair Work Act 2009 — retain this completed checklist as evidence.
1. TYPE OF DISMISSAL 1.1.
2. SUMMARY DISMISSAL (SERIOUS MISCONDUCT) 2.1. Grounds: 2.2. Under the Code, an employer may dismiss an employee without notice or warning where the employer believes on reasonable grounds that the employee's conduct is sufficiently serious to justify immediate dismissal (e.g. theft, fraud, violence, serious breach of occupational health and safety).
3. CONDUCT/PERFORMANCE DISMISSAL (NOT SUMMARY) 3.1. Warnings given: 3.2. Opportunity given to respond and improve: 3.3. For dismissal on conduct or performance grounds, the Code requires the employee be warned (verbally or, preferably, in writing) that they risk being dismissed if there is no improvement, and given a reasonable chance to respond and to improve.
4. PROCESS 4.1. Witness present: . 4.2. This checklist completed on: .
5. IMPORTANT DEADLINE 5.1. An employee has 21 days from the date of dismissal to lodge an unfair dismissal application with the Fair Work Commission. This checklist, together with any warning letters, is the primary evidence that the Code was followed.
COMPLETED BY ______________ DATE
This is a boilerplate template, not legal advice. Australian workplace, consumer-protection, food safety, and work health & safety law combines uniform federal rules (Fair Work Act 2009, the National Employment Standards, the applicable Modern Award, the Australian Consumer Law) with state- and territory-specific rules that this template flags with ⚠️ but does not resolve for you — have it reviewed and adapted by a lawyer before use, check the current Fair Work Ombudsman resources at fairwork.gov.au (including free official templates and the P.A.C.T. pay calculator), and confirm the Modern Award classification and minimum pay rate in force on the date of use (rates change every 1 July).
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