If an employee lodges an unfair dismissal claim against you, your first step is to get expert HR and legal guidance immediately, because you have a strict, short window to respond and how you handle that initial response can determine the outcome of the entire case.
That timeframe catches almost every employer off guard. You’ve made a difficult decision to end someone’s employment, you’re already dealing with the fallout of that internally, and then a formal claim lands with a response deadline attached – often before you’ve had time to properly process what’s happening, let alone work out how to respond to it. It’s genuinely one of the most stressful situations a business owner can find themselves in, and it’s far more common than most employers realise. Barely a week goes by where we’re not actively helping an employer manage an unfair dismissal claim.
Why this catches so many employers off guard
Most business owners are not well versed in the legal end of HR, and there’s no reason they should be. You’ve built a business around your actual trade or service, not around the intricacies of the Fair Work Act. So when a claim arrives, it’s common to feel completely out of your depth – unsure what the process actually involves, unsure what you’re required to submit and by when, and unsure whether the decision you made was even defensible in the first place.
That uncertainty is exactly what makes this moment so stressful. You’re not just managing the practical steps of a legal process, you’re doing it while worried about what it might cost you, what it says about how you’ve been running your business, and whether this is going to drag on for months. This is precisely the point where employers need clarity and certainty, not more unanswered questions.
What the process actually involves
An unfair dismissal claim typically moves through a few key stages, and each one carries its own requirements and its own risks if handled poorly.
The initial response. You’ll need to formally respond to the claim within a tight timeframe, addressing the specific grounds the employee has raised. This response sets the tone for everything that follows, so it needs to be accurate, well-evidenced, and strategically sound – not rushed out under pressure.
Conciliation or mediation. Most claims move to a conciliation conference before they go any further. This is often where matters are resolved, but it requires you to be properly prepared – understanding your legal position, your realistic options, and how to negotiate effectively rather than walking in blind.
Fair Work or WHS proceedings. If the matter doesn’t resolve at conciliation, it can progress further through the Fair Work Commission or, in some cases, intersect with WHS obligations. This is where having genuine legal backing becomes critical.
You don’t have to navigate this alone
This is exactly the space we work in constantly, and it’s why we built our team the way we have. Our HR consultants regularly work at this pointy end of HR, dealing directly with active claims, and we also have an expert employment lawyer on our team – so whatever stage your situation is at, you’ve got both the practical HR experience and the legal expertise behind you.
Depending on what you need, we can support you in different ways. For some employers, that means preparing a strong, well-evidenced response to the initial claim so you’re not navigating that first critical step alone. For others, it means holding your hand through the entire conciliation or mediation process, making sure you’re properly prepared and confidently represented at every stage. Either way, you’re not left guessing your way through a legal process you weren’t trained for.
Protecting your business going forward
An unfair dismissal claim is also a valuable, if uncomfortable, signal. Once the immediate matter is resolved, you’ll walk away with real clarity on what HR documentation and processes need to be put in place or tightened up, so you’re properly protected against future claims. That might mean better record-keeping around performance issues, clearer termination processes, or stronger documentation practices generally – the kind of foundational work that makes the next difficult decision far less risky than this one was.
At the end of the day, our job is to protect you and your business through this process, so you can get back to focusing on the business you set out to build, and the life you’re actually trying to create through it.
Answered by Jackie Strachan, Director, HR Tactics – [DATE PUBLISHED]. HR Tactics services employers across all industries Australia. HR Tactics also has specialist HR expertise in the dental industry and a position on the Local Buy People & Wellbeing (HR) Provider Panel, servicing local governments throughout Queensland.
