Sandra Miller v Ventia
[2022] FWC 716
| [2022] FWC 716 |
| FAIR WORK COMMISSION |
| DECISION |
Fair Work Act 2009
s.394—Unfair dismissal
Sandra Miller
v
Ventia
(U2022/2590)
| cOMMISSIONER bISSETT | MELBOURNE, 31 MARCH 2022 |
Application for relief from unfair dismissal – unpaid application – dismissal under s.587 at the Commission’s initiative.
On 1 March 2022, Ms Sandra Miller (Applicant) 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).
The application was incomplete in that it did not include payment of the required fee or a completed fee waiver form.
On 1 March 2022, the Commission telephoned the Applicant to discuss payment of the required fee. The Applicant advised she was not aware of a filing fee and that she will complete a fee waiver form.
Later that day, the Commission emailed correspondence to the Applicant’s nominated email address advising that her application required payment of the filing fee or a completed waiver form if they 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 the Applicant’s representative advising that there was a problem with the application and requesting a return call. No response was received from the Applicant’s representative.
On 16 March 2022, the Commission telephoned the Applicant and advised that the Commission had not as yet received a completed fee waiver form from her. The Applicant said that she may have accidentally deleted the email from the Commission attaching the fee waiver form and requested the form be resent to her. The Commission advised the Applicant that it will resend the form and warned that if the fee waiver form is not received by close of business on 18 March 2022 the application may be dismissed.
To date the required fee has not been paid and a completed fee waiver form has not been received.
Section 395 of the 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.
Section 587(1) of the FW Act provides as follows:
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.
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
[1] PR739878
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