The Effective End of Probationary Periods?

Background

Even though the recent Federal Court judgment of Justice Nicholas in Dabboussy v Australian Federation of Islamic Councils [2024] FCA 1074 was interlocutory, it has nevertheless attracted much interest. This interest is warranted. The employer in the case did what many employers have done - terminated employment just before the employee would have had the right to bring unfair dismissal proceedings, usually at the end of a contractual probationary period. In this case the employee was 7 hours short of serving the minimum employment period of 12 months required as the employee of a small business employer to bring such a claim. (For employees of non-small business employers the applicable minimum employment period is 6 months.)