Fair Work Commission

Your rights

The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) gives a person the right to:

• access copies of documents of the Fair Work Commission, other than documents that are determined to be exempt from disclosure under the FOI Act
• ask for information we hold about you to be changed or annotated if it is incomplete, out of date, incorrect or misleading
• seek a review of our decision not to give you access to a document or not to amend your personal record.

Under the FOI Act, you can ask to see any document that we hold that was either created or received in the Commission. We can refuse access to documents or parts of documents that are exempt. Exempt documents may include:

• those relating to national security
• documents containing material obtained in confidence and Cabinet documents, or
• other matters set out in the FOI Act

Documents may also be conditionally exempt, such as:

• where disclosing the document would involve the unreasonable disclosure of an individual's personal information
• where disclosure could reasonably be expected to unreasonably affect a third party's business affairs, or
• where release of the document would have a substantial adverse effecct on the proper and efficient conduct of the Commission's operations

Where a document is conditionally exempt, we may refuse access to all or part of the document if access would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest.

Documents available outside the FOI Act

The Commission's Privacy policy sets out what types of case files may be available for inspection by the public.

A formal Freedom of Information (FOI) request is not required to access documents where these are available for inspection under the Commission's file access policy (which forms part of our Privacy policy).

Access to case file documents is at the discretion of the Commission and will be subject to the exceptions set out in the file access policy.

You should also check the information we have published under our Information publication scheme and FOI disclosure log to see if what you are seeking is already available.

Information that is frequently sought and can be found on our website includes:

• Awards
• Agreements
• Annual wage reviews
• Modern awards list
• All decisions
• Links to relevant legislation
• Award modernisation
• Unfair dismissal
• Unlawful termination (general protections)
• Forms
• Contact us
• Latest news

If you wish to request information from the Commission please use the details below.

For persons seeking documents relating to a Commission matter

You can make a request under the file access policy:

• If you are seeking to access documents about a case file where you were a party or a representative to a party (please note you will be required to provide proof of identity or authority to act); or
• For documents on case files which are generally available to the public.

You can make a request by email to Library-RMU@fwc.gov.au or by post to Library Records Management Unit, GPO Box 1994, Melbourne, Victoria 3001. 

For FOI requests

• An FOI request may be made by email to foi@fwc.gov.au or by post to the FOI Contact Officer, GPO Box 1994, Melbourne, Victoria 3001. Please also see the section below on how to make an FOI request.

For general information on FOI

• If you would like further information about FOI, you may send your enquiry by email to foi@fwc.gov.au or contact a Freedom of Information by calling (03) 8656 4544.

For general case enquiries by parties

• If you have a general enquiry about a case you were involved in or require general information about Commission procedures, contact the Commission on 1300 799 675 or email enquiries@fwc.gov.au.

How to make an FOI request

An FOI request for access to documents must:

• be in writing
• state that the request is an application for the purposes of the FOI Act
• provide information about the document(s) you seek to access, to help us locate them, and
• provide an address for reply.

Your request for amendment or annotation of personal records must:

• be in writing
• as far as is practicable specify:
  • the document containing the record of personal information that is claimed to require amendment or annotation
  • the information that is claimed to be incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading
  • whether the information is claimed to be incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading, and your reasons for so claiming
  • the amendment or annotation that would make the information complete, correct, up to date or not misleading, and
• provide an address for reply.

You can send your request by email to foi@fwc.gov.au or by post to:

If you ask a third party to make an FOI request on your behalf, you need to provide a specific, written authority to send copies of documents to you, care of that person, or to allow that person to inspect copies of documents containing information about you.

FOI disclosure log

The FOI disclosure log contains information released by the Fair Work Commission in response to requests under the FOI Act.

Since 1 May 2011, the Commission is required by the FOI Act to publish a register of information that has been released in response to an FOI request.

The disclosure log requirement does not apply to:

• personal information about any person if publication of that information would be unreasonable
• information about the business, commercial, financial or professional affairs of any person if publication of that information would be unreasonable
• other information covered by a determination made by the Australian Information Commissioner if publication of that information would be unreasonable
• any information if it is not reasonably practicable to publish the information because of the extent of modifications that would need to be made to delete the information listed above.

The Commission will publish information in the disclosure log within 10 working days of an FOI applicant being granted access to a document.

Copies of the documents released under the FOI Act from 1 January 2015 onwards are available online. For documents released prior to 1 January 2015, or for documents unavailable in electronic format, please contact the Commission’s FOI Contact Officer by email to foi@fwc.gov.au or by post to:

A charge may be imposed to reimburse the Commission for the cost incurred in copying or reproducing the information or sending it to you. You will be notified if any charge is payable and required to pay the charge before the information is provided.

There may be documents in the disclosure log that are currently not available in HTML format. If you are unable to read the format provided please contact the FOI Contact Officer by email or by post using the contact details above. We will try to meet all reasonable requests for alternative formats in a timely manner and at the lowest reasonable cost to you.

Fees & charges

There is no application fee for an FOI request.

There are no processing charges for requests for access to documents containing only personal information about you. However, processing charges may apply to other requests.

The most common charges are:

If we decide to impose a charge, we will give you a written estimate and the basis of our calculation. Where the estimated charge is between $20 and $100, we may ask you to pay a deposit of $20, or where the estimated charge exceeds $100, we may ask you to pay a 25% deposit before we process your request.

You can ask for the charge to be waived or reduced for any reason, including financial hardship or on the grounds of public interest. If you do so, you should explain your reasons and you may need to provide some evidence. We will then decide whether to grant the waiver or reduce the charge.

What you can expect from us

We will tell you within 14 days that we have received your FOI request.

As soon as practicable, we will also give you an estimate of any charges that apply to your request.

We may decide that there is a practical reason to refuse an FOI request if:

• the work involved in processing a request would substantially and unreasonably divert the Commission’s resources from its other operations
• the request does not provide enough information about the requested documents as is reasonably necessary to enable us to identify them.

This is called a practical refusal reason. If we decide that a practical refusal reason exists, you will be notified in writing and we will conduct a 14-day request consultation process with you. The request consultation process will give you an opportunity to consult with us to revise your request so that a practical refusal reason no longer exists. This period is to be disregarded in working out the period in which we must process your request, discussed below.

We will give you our decision on your FOI request within 30 days, unless that time has been extended. The timeframe for making a decision on an FOI request can be extended in certain circumstances.

If a document contains information about a third party, we will need to consult with them and may need to extend the time to give you our decision by another 30 days. We may also seek your agreement to extend the time by up to 30 days if your request is complex.

In some circumstances, we may also apply to the Information Commissioner for an extension of time to process your request, for example if the request is complex or voluminous.

Under the FOI Act, the Fair Work Commission may make a range of decisions in response to an FOI request, including to:

• grant access to some or all of the requested documents, either in full or in part
• refuse access to requested documents, including when:
  • the documents are exempt under the FOI Act
  • the documents are conditionally exempt under the FOI Act, where public interest factors against disclosure outweigh the public interest factors favouring disclosure
  • the documents do not exist, cannot be found or were not received from a contractor
  • a practical refusal reason exists following a request consultation process
• refuse to confirm or deny that a document which would be exempt exists
• defer access to a requested document in limited circumstances
• provide access to personal information of the FOI applicant through a qualified person.

If we decide to refuse all or part of your FOI request or defer access to documents, we will provide you with a statement of reasons explaining the decision.

The Commission has a Freedom of Information policy for Commission Members and staff informing Commission Members and staff of their responsibilities regarding FOI and of the Commission's processes for handling FOI requests. 

More information about the possible outcomes of an FOI request is available on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) website.

If you disagree with our decision

When we have made a decision about your FOI request, we will send you a letter explaining our decision and your review rights.

You can ask for the following decisions to be reviewed:

• if we refuse to give you access to all or part of a document or documents or if we defer giving you access
• if we impose a charge to process your FOI request
• if we refuse to change or annotate information about you that you claim is incomplete, incorrect, out of date or misleading.

A third party who disagrees with our decision to give you documents that contain information about them can also ask for our decision to be reviewed.

Internal review

You can request in writing that we reconsider our decision through an internal review. An internal review will be conducted by another officer in our agency. We will normally advise you of the internal review decision within 30 days of receiving your request. In limited circumstances, we may apply to the Information Commissioner for additional time to advise you of the internal review decision.

If you wish to lodge a request for internal review with the Fair Work Commission, send your written request by email to generalmanager@fwc.gov.au or by post to:

Information Commissioner review

You can ask the Information Commissioner to review our original decision or our internal review decision within 60 days of the date of the relevant decision (or 30 days after you are notified of the decision, if you are an affected third party).

The Information Commissioner can affirm or vary the decision or substitute a new decision. The Information Commissioner may decide not to conduct a review in certain circumstances. More information is available at the OAIC website.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request, you can complain to the Information Commissioner who may investigate our actions. More information is available on the OAIC website.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman can also investigate complaints about our actions. However, the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Information Commissioner will consult to avoid the same matter being investigated twice.

Privacy notice

The Commission collects the information, including personal information that you provide about yourself and others, when you:

• make an enquiry
• apply for access to information under the FOI Act or the Privacy Act 1988, or
• make a submission in relation to an FOI request.

For more details of the Commission’s collection, use and disclosure of this information, please see the Privacy notice – Freedom of information & privacy.