The following table provides information on
the number of termination of employment applications lodged under federal and
state law for each state and territory for the 1996 calendar year.
State/Territory |
Termination of employment applications lodged during the 1996
calendar year1 |
Federal 2 |
State |
Combined |
New South Wales |
4290 |
2186 |
6476 |
Queensland |
512 |
1932 |
2444 |
Western Australia |
1875 |
918 |
2793 |
South Australia |
633 |
1240 |
1873 |
Tasmania |
360 |
114 |
474 |
Victoria |
5958 |
358 |
6316 |
ACT3 |
509 |
N/A |
509 |
NT3 |
396 |
N/A |
396 |
Total |
14,533 |
6748 |
21,281 |
Notes
1. Federal and state figures are based on calendar months,
and incorporate estimates and interpolations where original data are not
available. Official and unofficial sources are used.
2. Data collected on
federal termination of employment applications do not differentiate between
unfair dismissal and unlawful termination.
3. There are no
separate territory unfair dismissal systems.
The
following table provides information on the number of termination of employment
applications lodged under federal and state law for each state and territory
during the 2003 calendar year.
State/Territory |
Termination of employment applications lodged during the 2003
calendar year1 |
Federal 2 |
State |
Combined |
New South Wales |
1270 |
4083 |
5353 |
Queensland |
397 |
1642 |
2039 |
Western Australia3 |
316 |
1314 |
1630
|
South Australia |
153 |
980 |
1133 |
Tasmania |
109 |
280 |
389 |
Victoria4 |
4242 |
N/A |
4242 |
ACT4 |
227 |
N/A |
227 |
NT4 |
240 |
N/A |
240 |
Total |
6954 |
8299 |
15,253 |
Notes
1. Some figures in
this table are based on records of monthly lodgements and may differ slightly
from final annual figures.
2. Data collected on
federal termination of employment applications do not differentiate between
unfair dismissal and unlawful termination.
3. Western
Australian state figures include both unfair dismissal applications and
applications which combine claims of unfair dismissal and denial of contractual
benefits.
4. There are no
separate territory unfair dismissal systems, and there has been no separate
Victorian unfair dismissal system since 1996.
The
following table provides information on the number and percentage change in
termination of employment applications for the 2003 calendar year against the
1996 calendar year.
State/Territory |
Change in the number of termination of employment applications
—1996
v 2003 calendar years1 |
Federal 2 |
State |
Combined |
number |
% |
number |
% |
number |
% |
New South Wales3 |
-3020 |
-70.4 |
1897 |
86.8 |
-1123 |
-17.3 |
Queensland |
-115 |
-22.5 |
-290 |
-15.0 |
-405 |
-16.6 |
Western Australia4 |
-1559 |
-83.1 |
396 |
43.1 |
-1163 |
-41.6 |
South Australia |
-480 |
-75.8 |
-260 |
-21.0 |
-740 |
-39.5 |
Tasmania |
-251 |
-69.7 |
166 |
145.6 |
-85 |
-17.9 |
Victoria5 |
-1716 |
-28.8 |
-358 |
-100.0 |
-2074 |
-32.8 |
ACT5 |
-282 |
-55.4 |
N/A |
N/A |
-282 |
-55.4 |
NT5 |
-156 |
-39.4 |
N/A |
N/A |
-156 |
-39.4 |
Total |
-7579 |
-52.2 |
1551 |
23.0 |
-6028 |
-28.3 |
Notes
1. Federal and state
figures are based on calendar months, and incorporate estimates and
interpolations where original data are not available. Official and unofficial
sources are used.
2. Data collected on
federal termination of employment applications do not differentiate between
unfair dismissal and unlawful termination.
3. Between 1996 and
2003, the number of unfair dismissal applications made in the NSW State
jurisdiction increased substantially and the number of applications in NSW in
the federal jurisdiction declined substantially. These shifts may be attributed
to: the fact that applications in 1996 were made under the more expansive
unfair dismissal provisions in the Industrial Relations Act 1988 rather than
the more limited scheme in the Workplace Relations Act 1996, which did not come
into effect until 31 December 1996; and the expansion in the NSW
jurisdiction effected by the Industrial Relations Amendment (Federal Award
Employees) Act 1998 (NSW).
4. Western
Australian state figures include both unfair dismissal applications and
applications which combine claims of unfair dismissal and denial of contractual
benefits.
5. There are no
separate territory unfair dismissal systems, and there has been no separate
Victorian unfair dismissal system since 1996.
The
Australian Industrial Registry (AIR) asks employers who are nominated as
respondents in federal termination of employment matters a question relating to
the size of their business. Around one third of such employers have responded
to the AIR’s question . The information collected by the AIR relates only to
unfair dismissal applications under the federal Workplace Relations Act 1996,
and has only been collected since 1 December 1997. As far as the Federal
Government is aware, no state or territory is able to provide reliable data on
the number of small businesses involved in unfair dismissal applications for
the 1996 or 2003 calendar years. Therefore, it is not possible to provide
tables for all small business unfair dismissal applications for the 1996
calendar year, small business unfair dismissal applications under federal and
state law for the 2003 calendar year, or changes in the number of small
business unfair dismissal applications between 1996 and 2003, as requested.
The following table
provides information on federal unfair dismissal applications, broken down by
the state and territory in which the application was lodged, for the 2003
calendar year. As not all employers involved in federal unfair dismissal
matters responded to the AIR’s request for information on employer size, the
information in the table is considered indicative only. The number of employer
respondents who provided information on employer size is included in the table.
|
Federal
unfair dismissal applications lodged during the 2003 calendar year1,2 |
Registry |
Number
of termination of employment applications lodged |
Number
of employer responses to AIR’s question on employer size |
Number
of responses received from small businesses |
Small
business responses as a percentage of all responses received |
New South Wales |
1270 |
275 |
76 |
27.6 |
Queensland |
397 |
186 |
29 |
15.6 |
Western Australia |
316 |
64 |
16 |
25.0 |
South Australia |
153 |
59 |
16 |
27.1 |
Tasmania |
109 |
38 |
6 |
15.8 |
Victoria |
4242 |
1353 |
524 |
38.7 |
ACT |
227 |
53 |
18 |
34.0 |
NT |
240 |
125 |
50 |
40.0 |
Total |
6954 |
2153 |
735 |
34.1 |
Notes
1. The figures in
this table are based on monthly lodgements and may differ slightly from final
annual lodgement figures.
2. Data collected on
federal termination of employment applications do not differentiate between
unfair dismissal and unlawful termination.
It
is not possible to provide a reliable estimate of the numbers of small
businesses that fall under state and federal workplace relations law separately
for each state and territory.
A broad indication of the number of non-farm small business that fall
under federal workplace relations law can be provided. Non-farm businesses exclude those in the agriculture,
forestry and fishing industries.
Drawing upon a combination
of data sources, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
estimates that around one third of non-farm businesses with fewer than 20
employees have employees who are covered by federal awards, Australian
Workplace Agreements or federal certified agreements, or are located in the
Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory or the State of
Victoria. It is not possible to break this
figure down by state and territory.
The
most recent estimate from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ publication
Small Business in Australia [ABS cat. no. 1321.0] is that, in 2000–2001, there
were 539,900 employing non-farm small businesses in Australia.
Based
on these estimates, it is estimated that that around 180,000 non-farm small
businesses fell under federal workplace relations law in 2000–2001.
Similarly,
it is not possible to provide a reliable estimate of the numbers of small
business employees that fall under state and federal workplace relations law
separately for each state and territory.
A
broad indication of the number of non-farm small business employees who fall
under federal workplace relations law can be provided. Employees of non-farm small businesses are
those small business employees who were are not employed by businesses in the
agriculture, forestry and fishing industries.
The Department of Employment
and Workplace Relations estimates that around 35 per cent of employees of
non-farm businesses with fewer than 20 employees are covered by federal awards,
Australian Workplace Agreements or federal certified agreements, or are
employed by businesses located in the Australian Capital Territory, the
Northern Territory or the State of Victoria.
It is not possible to break this figure down by state and territory.
The
most recent estimate from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ publication
Small Business in Australia [ABS cat. no. 1321.0] was that, in 2000–2001,
2,269,400 employees were employed by Australian non-farm small businesses.
Based on these estimates,
it is estimated that that around 795,000 employees of non-farm small business
fell under federal workplace relations law in 2000–2001.