Southey, Kim
(2015)
Unfair Dismissal For Australian Workers:
The Hundred-Year Journey.
Asian Academy of Management Journal (AAMJ), 20 (1).
pp. 1-18.
ISSN 1394-2603
Abstract
This paper examines the journey Australia traversed in the development at of the unfair
dismissal protections it provides the majority of its workers, since the nation's Federation
in 1901. Historically, the country's Constitutional "heads of power" were intended to
prohibit the federal government from regulating individual aspects of the employment
relationship. Over time, such interpretations of the constitutional powers were challenged
by governing parties, resulting in the modern-day, "national" unfair dismissal protections
afforded to the majority of workers. The journey Australians traversed during the
architecture of their current unfair dismissal legislation provides a lesson on a
government's ability to conjure significant influence on individual arrangements between
management and workers. Despite Australia's participation in the worldwide, neoliberal
push to deregulate labour markets, the protection of workers from unfair dismissal is an
explicit matter in the employment relationship attracting increased regulation through
industrial legislation. This paper culminates in reporting the consequences facing
employers who improperly administer dismissals and how employers can take steps to
mitigate such risks.
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