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Preparing submissions for an unfair dismissal hearing

Information about how to prepare the submissions you want to make at the Fair Work Commission hearing for your unfair dismissal claim.

Outline of submissions

An outline of submissions is a document that explains your case to your employer and to the Fair Work Commission (the Commission). It summarises the arguments and main points you will make at the hearing.

If you have someone representing you in your case, they will write the outline of submissions. If you are representing yourself you will need to write it.

You can help your case by making sure your outline of submissions is easy to read and understand. 

Plan what you want to say

Think about what topics you want to cover. One good idea is to write a list of headings first so that you do not forget anything.

Some issues you might want to cover are:

  • Your employment (including how long you were employed and your title and duties) 
  • How you were dismissed
  • Why you think your dismissal was unfair
  • What evidence you plan to bring to the hearing
  • Your response to any arguments made by your employer about you not being able to make an application (jurisdictional objections). 

Research

You should refer to any sections of the Fair Work Act that deal with your claim. For more information on how to find out about the Fair Work Act and other employment laws, see Finding employment law.

Formatting

Start with a heading

The outline of submissions should start with a heading that gives the name of your matter and the matter number. You can find these on the top of your Notice of Listing for the hearing. 

For example:

Atherton, Charlotte v Department Stores Pty Ltd 
Matter Number: U2011/00000 
Outline of Submissions

Number paragraphs and pages

Number each paragraph consecutively through the document starting at one for the first paragraph. Number each page consecutively. This way you can quickly refer anyone to a particular section in your submissions.

Get someone else to read it 

Get someone else to read over what you have written to look for errors, typos and make sure that everything is easy to understand.

More help

If you are unsure about what to put in your submissions or how to answer an issue raised by the employer, you should get legal advice.

For more help on how to write documents, see Reading and writing legal documents. 

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