Document Search | Fair Work Commission

This is our Document search where you can find specific documents such as decisions, awards and agreements. For general information and forms, please visit the Fair Work Commission website.

Sorting & Filters

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Can't find what you are looking for?

Try our search tips or see our videos.

What documents are currently available?

Please refer to documents currently available.

Is a document missing?

As we migrate thousands of documents to our new website, some material may not yet be available. If there is a document that was on our old website, please provide us the details in our Document Request Form and we will email it to you.

What's new in Document Search?

We're continuing to make improvements to Document Search based on your feedback. You can view the most recent changes here.

Looking for more information?

For general information and forms, please visit the Fair Work Commission website.

Search

Can't find what you are looking for?

Try our search tips or see our videos.

What documents are currently available?

Please refer to documents currently available.

Is a document missing?

As we migrate thousands of documents to our new website, some material may not yet be available. If there is a document that was on our old website, please provide us the details in our Document Request Form and we will email it to you.

Decisions

All Tribunal decisions issued since 1 January 2003 are available.
Earlier decisions and delegate decisions are being added progressively. Decisions are also available from AustLII's databases .

Awards

The current consolidated version of all modern awards are available in the 'Award' document type search.
Determinations making and varying these modern awards are available within the 'Decisions and Orders' document type.
Pre-reform awards are now available within the 'Award' document type, including documents that contain preserved long service leave clauses.

Enterprise agreements

All current agreements approved by the Fair Work Commission since 2013 are available.
Historical agreements, like state referred and common rule agreements are also available within the 'Agreement' document type.
Please contact us using the Document Request Form if you are unable to find agreement documents.

Transcripts

All historical transcripts since 1 September 2000 to 30 June 2022 are available in the ‘Transcript’ document type search.
Recent transcripts are available on the fwc.gov.au website.
We do not publish transcripts for private conferences. We do not publish transcripts, when they are heard in public by a single member, for:
- dismissal and termination of employment cases
- general protections cases that do not involve dismissal
- bullying cases
- sexual harassment cases

Major cases

Documents relating to all current Major cases are available on the fwc.gov.au website.
Completed major cases (including 4 yearly review matters) are being added progressively.

Search operators let you control and narrow down your search results.

Phrase Search - " "

Using quotation marks " " returns results containing the exact words within the quote.
Example: "small business employer" will show all decisions that have small business employer in the decision.

Search Operator - AND

The search operator AND only shows result with both terms.
Example: "s.185" AND 14 days - will only return results that have both s.185 and 14 days in the document.

Search Operator - OR

The search operator OR returns results with either terms.
Example: "constructive dismissal" OR forced to resign - will return all documents that have either the exact words "constructive dismissal" or variations on forced to resign in their text.
The OR operator will provide more results than the AND operator.

Search Operator - NOT

The search operator NOT returns search results containing the former terms but not the latter.
Example: "minimum employment period" NOT 12 months - would help search for MEP cases that do not involve small business MEP cases.

Proximity Search - ~

The search operator ~ is used for proximity searches, returning results that contain the words within a certain proximity of each other.
Example: continuous period~20 - will show results where the words continuous and period are within 20 words of one another.
You can use this operator to find legal concept, for example, continuous period~20 should produce decision on s384 that examine continuous service.

Wildcard Search - *

The search operator * is a wildcard used to represent one or more 'any character' in a term.
Example: industr* - will show results that contain industrial, industry, industries, industrious.
You can use this operator to find legal concept, for example, continuous period~20 should produce decision on s 384 that examine continuous service.

By combining operators, you can hone in on the exact cases you want.

For example: s.739 AND "Berri" Golden Cockerel~40 AND schedule AND ambig* NOT("variation" OR "217") - should return dispute decisions that consider Berri and Golden Cockerel, the use of schedules and ambiguity, without including decisions under s.217.

Search operators let you control and narrow down your search results.

Filter - Date Range

Applying the date range filter will return results only in the set date range.
You can select a date range of transcripts and search with no keywords to return all the available transcripts in a certain date range.

Phrase Search - " "

Using quotation marks " " returns results containing the exact words within the quote.
Example: "small business employer" will show all decisions that have small business employer in the decision.

Search Operator - AND

The search operator AND only shows result with both terms.
Example: "s.185" AND 14 days - will only return results that have both s.185 and 14 days in the document.

Search Operator - OR

The search operator OR returns results with either terms.
Example: "constructive dismissal" OR forced to resign - will return all documents that have either the exact words "constructive dismissal" or variations on forced to resign in their text.
The OR operator will provide more results than the AND operator.

Search Operator - NOT

The search operator NOT returns search results containing the former terms but not the latter.
Example: "minimum employment period" NOT 12 months - would help search for MEP cases that do not involve small business MEP cases.

Proximity Search - ~

The search operator ~ is used for proximity searches, returning results that contain the words within a certain proximity of each other.
Example: continuous period~20 - will show results where the words continuous and period are within 20 words of one another.
You can use this operator to find legal concept, for example, continuous period~20 should produce decision on s384 that examine continuous service.

Wildcard Search - *

The search operator * is a wildcard used to represent one or more 'any character' in a term.
Example: industr* - will show results that contain industrial, industry, industries, industrious.
You can use this operator to find legal concept, for example, continuous period~20 should produce decision on s 384 that examine continuous service.

By combining operators, you can hone in on the exact cases you want.