Fair Work Commission

In 2015–16, 34,215 applications were made to the Commission, which was very similar to the 34,152 total for 2014–15. Of these, 36.7 per cent were lodged in Melbourne and 26.1 per cent in Sydney. Applications lodged in a particular location may be dealt with by staff or Members in another location.

In 2015–16 the Commission continued to explore different ways of receiving applications and conducting matters to improve services to the parties and the community generally. The Commission developed the first version of a new online lodgment system for a number of its forms with a view to developing further digital services for information exchange. The Commission developed a smart form for unfair dismissal applications, specifically designed to assist the majority of applicants who are unrepresented and are unfamiliar with the workings of a tribunal.

Trends in applications

The Commission's overall caseload for 2015–16 remained steady at 34,215, a slight increase on 2014–15 of 63 cases overall. Unfair dismissal applications make up over 40 per cent of applications to the Commission consistent with the previous three years. General protections applications involving dismissal had been increasing but in 2015–16 plateaued at a level similar to the previous reporting period.

There continued to be a trend of decreasing numbers of certain application types. For example, there were again fewer applications to terminate individual agreements and a slight decline in enterprise agreement approval applications in this financial year compared with the previous year. Overall there were fewer applications when compared with lodgments in 2013–14.

1 Includes applications to vary and terminate enterprise agreements and transitional individual agreements.
2 Applications made under ss. 120, 526, 533, 699 and 739.
3 Applications made under ss. 266, 418, 419, 423,424, 425, 426, 437, 447, 448, 459 and 472.
4 Applications made under ss. 229, 236, 238, 240, 242 and 248.

Figure 3: Case load by matter type

Figure 3 represents data from Table 6.