Philippa Caffrey (nee Kuczerawy) v Brandwatch

[2020] FWC 3703

[2020] FWC 3703

FAIR WORK COMMISSION

DECISION

Fair Work Act 2009
s.394—Unfair dismissal

Philippa Caffrey (nee Kuczerawy)
v
Brandwatch
(U2020/8489)

COMMISSIONER BISSETT MELBOURNE, 16 JULY 2020

Application for an unfair dismissal remedy.

[1] On 19 June 2020 Ms Philippa Caffrey (nee Kuczerawy) made an application to the Fair Work Commission for a remedy for unfair dismissal pursuant to s.394 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act).

[2] The application was incomplete in that Ms Caffrey did not pay the required fee or file a completed waiver form.

[3] On 22 June 2020 the Commission contacted Ms Caffrey on her nominated telephone number to discuss payment of the required fee. The applicant requested to make the payment with American Express which is unable to be processed by the Commission. She advised that she would call the Commission later to make payment.

[4] Later that day, the Commission emailed correspondence to Ms Caffrey’s nominated email address advising that her application required payment of the filing fee or a completed waiver form if she wished to proceed with the application. That correspondence also warned that if payment is not made or a waiver form is not received within 14 days, the application may be dismissed. An SMS notification was also sent to Ms Caffrey’s nominated telephone number, advising that there was a problem with their application and requesting that she contact the Commission.

[5] A final attempt to contact Ms Caffrey was made by the Commission on 6 July 2020. The call was answered by a woman advising that she was Ms Caffery’s sister. The Commission left a message for Ms Caffrey requesting that she contact the Commission to make payment of the required fee.

[6] To date there has been no response from Ms Caffrey, the required fee has not been paid and a completed waiver form has not been received.

[7] Section 395 of the FW Act, which deals with application fees, provides as follows:

395 Application fees

(1) An application to the FWC under this Division must be accompanied by any fee prescribed by the regulations.

(2) The regulations may prescribe:

(a) a fee for making an application to the FWC under this Division; and

(b) a method for indexing the fee; and

(c) the circumstances in which all or part of the fee may be waived or refunded.

[8] Section 587(1) of the FW Act provides:

587 Dismissing applications

(1) Without limiting when the FWC may dismiss an application, the FWC may dismiss an application if:

(a) the application is not made in accordance with this Act; or

(b) the application is frivolous or vexatious; or

(c) the application has no reasonable prospects of success.

[9] Having regard to the circumstances of this matter, I am satisfied that as the application was not accompanied by the fee prescribed by the FW Act, the application was not made in accordance with the FW Act. As such, the application is dismissed pursuant to s.587(1)(a) of the FW Act. An Order 1 to this effect will be issued shortly.

COMMISSIONER

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