A question often asked by employers facing an unfair dismissal
claim is, what happens if the matter cannot be settled? Whilst the
vast majority of unfair dismissal cases are resolved at
conciliation, some proceed to a hearing. On rare occasions they
find their way from a hearing before a single Commissioner to the
Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission on appeal.
The decision of the Commission in BlueScope Steel Limited
and Habak (C2019/4101) (4 October 2019) is interesting on a
number of levels, including the insight it offers into the factors
which bear upon whether the Full Bench will entertain an appeal
from a decision of a single Commissioner.
The employee in BlueScope was initially successful in his unfair
dismissal case which was heard before Commissioner Riordan. The
employee had been dismissed following an incident which involved
him in operating an overhead crane incorrectly as a consequence of
which a coil which was being moved, tipped in a dangerous
