Adverse Action by an Employer:

The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (“FWA”) defines adverse action as occurring when an employer dismisses a worker, injures a worker in their employment, alters the position of the worker to their detriment, discriminates between workers and/or refuses to employ a prospective worker, or threatens to undertake any of the above action.

The FWAprohibits an employer from taking adverse action against a worker because of a prescribed reason. One such prescribed reason includes where a person has a workplace right, where an employee has exercised a workplace right or intends to do so in the future, or if the employee has not exercised the workplace right and does not plan to do so at a later point in time. This is known as the general protections clause.

A second prescribed reason is because the employee is or is not an officer or member of an industrial association, or if the employee has or intends to engage in industrial activity in the future. 

An employer is also prohibited from engaging in adverse action based on a discriminatory ground that is unlawful, for example, because of a worker’s race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, family or carer’s responsibilities, pregnancy, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin.

It is not just employees who have protection against adverse action, but it also extends to include contractors and prospective employees and contractors together with an industrial association. The employer themselves is also protected from being a victim of adverse treatment under the FWA.

If a party has engaged in adverse action, legal proceedings can be brought by the employee, contractor, prospective employee or contractor, industrial association or employer with the Fair Work Commission. The Commission distinguishes between dismissal applications and non-dismissal applications with different timeframes for lodgement applying for each. To ensure that your application is correctly lodged with the Commission and that this occurs within the prescribed time limit, we recommend that you obtain immediate legal advice.

If you wish to speak with one of our Discrimination Law & Human Rights Law Lawyers, please contact our firm by telephone on (02) 9233 4048 or send an email to info@navado.com.au. 

This webpage (and any material or wording appearing on this webpage) is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute any Legal Advice. It does not take into account your objectives, your instructions or all of the relevant facts and/or circumstances. Navado accepts no responsibility to any person who relies on the information provided on this website. We further refer you to our Disclaimer.