Reference no: EM132981755

SECTION A: Compulsory Case Study Unfair Dismissal

In a recent unfair dismissal claim heard at the Fair Work Commission in Australia, an employer came under fire for the lack of formal warnings and notations regarding a dismissed underperforming employee. However, employers in Australia can breathe a sigh of relief as the Commission found that employers need not formally warn employees about unsatisfactory performance. Rather, evidence of a performance improvement plan, informal mentoring and general discussions about the dissatisfaction with the employee's performance, was enough to warrant a warning to the employee.

In this case, an employee was sacked by the employer as the employee was found to be lacking in the necessary skills, capabilities, and knowledge to adequately perform the role that the employee was employed for. In an attempt to assist the employee, the company decided to provide one-on-one informal coaching and even organised offsite training for the entire team - even though the training was targeted specifically for the underperforming employee. However, the employee failed to improve in performance and even started to become increasingly sensitive to constructive criticism.

Due to this, said employee was placed on an informal performance improvement plan, where a meeting took place between the company and the employee to discuss performance expectations and ways to achieve them. The employee agreed to the performance improvement plan (PIP) and even signed an agreement to the effect.

It is useful and recommended to conduct performance management in a formal and documented manner. However, failure to show this will not necessarily be detrimental to an employer's case. If the employer can show the employee had significant performance deficiencies, which were communicated to the employee and that the employee was given avenues for improvement, termination of employment may be found reasonable, especially for employee still under the probation period.

Instruction: This section consists of ONE (1) question. You are required to answer the compulsory question in this section.

Questions 1

(a) From the case information provided, determine whether the dismissal of the employee was considered to be fair? Provide justification for your answer.

(b) Review the actions taken by the organization in the case to ascertain whether those actions were deemed as relevant and appropriate to help the employee to improve his or her performance.