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Forms and Fees

All claims, submissions and other documents can be lodged with the Court via one of the following methods:

  • Electronically by emailing it as a PDF attachment to electroniclodgementIMC@wairc.wa.gov.au;
  • Post to Locked Bag No. 1, Cloisters Square PERTH WA 6850; or
  • In person at Level 2, 111 St Georges Terrace, PERTH WA 6000.

Practice Direction 1 of 2017 (PDF) provides procedural information to be followed in relation to a number of the Court's claims and forms.

If a filing fee is required, it must be paid when you lodge the document. Current filing fees can be found here. Filing fees can be paid by credit card over the telephone. For alternative methods of payment, please contact the Registry on (08) 9420 4467.

Pursuant to changes arising out of the Industrial Relations Legislation Amendment Act 2021 (WA), minor amendments have been made to the Form 1.1 – Originating Claim (Court Copy), Form 1.2 – Originating Claim (Claimant’s Copy) and Form 1.3 – Originating Claim (Respondent’s Copy).

To ensure use of the most recent versions of a Court form, please be sure to access all forms direct from the Court’s website.

FAQs

The Court’s Registry can be contacted on (08) 9420 4467 or registry@wairc.wa.gov.au. Court staff cannot give legal advice or opinion on the merits of any claim or potential claim. However, they can give information on: the processes of the Court; how to lodge forms; and other organisations that may be able to assist you.

Other organisations that may be able to assist you include:

You do not need to be represented in making or responding to a claim or when appearing at the Court. If representing yourself in the Court, you may like to obtain some legal advice ahead of time to make sure you are doing the right thing. Legal advice includes deciding which option is best for you. Some lawyers provide advice on how to represent yourself and run your own matter.

If you do want to be represented, you will need to inform the Court by lodging a Form 23 - Notice of Appointment of Lawyer or Agent. The Court must also be informed if you cease being represented or change representatives. Completed forms can be lodged with the Court by email to electroniclodgementIMC@wairc.wa.gov.au.

If you do want to be represented and you have elected to have the small claims procedure apply to your claim, you must get permission of the Court first.

Regarding representation by industrial agents, please take note of Practice Direction 1 of 2022 (PDF) .

 

Providing an email address to the Court will enable us to communicate with you by email for listings and general correspondence. It can also allow parties to serve documents to each other by email.

You must advise the Court by lodging a Form 26 – Notice of Change of Email or Fax Address for Service if you change your email address to ensure you do not miss out on important communications from the Court or other party. The completed form can be lodged with the Court by email to electroniclodgementIMC@wairc.wa.gov.au.

It is important to correctly name parties when making a claim. This means using an entity’s legal name. An entity’s legal name may be different to its business trading name or the name of a company director. Incorrectly naming a party can cause delays with a claim or result in an order being unenforceable.

Searches can be made on the Australian Business Register and the Australian Securities & Investment Commission public registers to try to find out the legal name of an entity. These searches can be done using a business name, an Australian Business Number (ABN) or an Australian Company Number (ACN). Some searches may require a fee to be paid.

You should provide enough relevant detail about your claim or your response so that both the Court and the other party know what you are saying has happened. If there is insufficient space on the relevant form, you may attach a separate document providing the additional details. For a claim, this is sometimes called a ‘statement of claim’ or ‘claim particulars’. For a response, this is sometimes called a ‘statement in response’ or ‘full particulars of response’.

It is generally helpful to use paragraphs that place information in chronological order. The paragraphs should be numbered, and each paragraph should only describe one action or one event. It is also helpful to provide the details of any calculations relevant to your claim or response.

If you wish to attach any other documents (for example: a payslip or a contract of employment) to your claim or response, you should refer to each document in the statement of claim or statement in response explaining the nature of the document and how it is relevant to what you are saying has happened.

The Industrial Magistrates Courts Practice Direction 1 of 2017(PDF) may provide some helpful guidance at point [1] on the type of information that can be useful to include and how it should be structured.

All claims, submissions and other documents can be lodged with the Court via one of the following methods:

  • Electronically by emailing it as a PDF attachment to electroniclodgementIMC@wairc.wa.gov.au; or
  • Post to Locked Bag No. 1, Cloisters Square PERTH WA 6850; or
  • In person at Level 2, 111 St Georges Terrace, PERTH WA 6000.

Filing fees can be paid by credit card, cheque, money order or cash.

Service of documents is the process of giving documents that have been filed with the Court to another party. There are strict rules about how this can be done and about proving to the Court that it has been done in compliance with the law. This is to ensure the Court can be confident that parties have received documents in a matter.

It is important to note that originating claims (such as a Form 1.3 - Originating Claim (Respondent's Copy) cannot be served by email or fax. It is only once a respondent has filed a response to the claim with the Court that provides email or fax details as the address for service, that you can serve the respondent by email or fax.

There are different rules of service depending on the nature of the entity being served:

Corporation

Documents can be served on a corporation in one of the following ways:

  • Delivering in person to a director, manager or secretary (within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)) of the named party
  • By posting the documents to the registered office of the named party - Please note you must be able to provide a copy of the Current Company Extract to the Court, upon request
  • In person at the principal place of business to an employee of the named party over 16 years of age
  • In person at the registered office to an employee of the named party over 16 years of age
  • By email at the address for service
  • By fax at the address for service
     

Natural person

Documents can be served on a natural person in one of the following ways:

  • In person at the named party’s address
  • Leaving it with someone over the age of 16 years old at the named party’s last/usual place of residence
  • Leaving it with someone over the age of 16 years old at the named party’s last/usual place of business
  • By email at the address for service
  • By fax at the address for service
     

Public authority

Documents can be served on a public authority in one of the following ways:

  • In person at the office of the public authority to an employee of the public authority over 16 years of age
  • By posting the documents to the the office of the public authority
  • By email at the address for service
  • By fax at the address for service
     

You do not personally have to serve documents. A friend, family member or process server can serve documents for you. The person who serves the document must be the one who completes the affidavit of service.

An affidavit of service is a written statement that a person has successfully served (given) a legal document or documents to another party in a matter. It needs to be made on an approved form. The approved form required will depend on the nature of the entity that has been served and will be one of the following:

An affidavit is a written statement which can be used as evidence in the Court. The purpose of an affidavit is to ‘tell a story’, by explaining what has occurred, what has been done and what is now sought. The paragraphs should be numbered, and each paragraph should only describe one action or one event.

An affidavit needs to be made on approved form Form 7 - Affidavit and sworn or affirmed  before an authorised witness in accordance with the Oaths, Affidavits and Statutory Declarations Act 2005 (WA). For those in Western Australia, an authorised witness can be:

  • a Justice of the Peace
  • a legal practitioner who is, and has been, practising for at least two years but who has not participated in any way in preparing an affidavit, or in the proceedings in which an affidavit is intended to be used
  • a public notary within the meaning of the Public Notaries Act 1979
  • or any registrar or clerk of the court, and any mining registrar appointed under the Mining Act 1979

The completed form can be lodged with the Court by email to electroniclodgementIMC@wairc.wa.gov.au.

For more information, please see The Making of Affidavits for use in the Industrial Magistrates Court of Western Australia (PDF).

Please note there are different forms for making an affidavit of service.

A witness statement is a document that sets out the evidence of a witness. It is a written record stating a person’s account of what has happened. It should be written in numbered paragraphs, state the identity of the person making the statement and their relationship to the parties, and detail the evidence being given (attaching copies of any documents referred to in the statement). The witness should sign and date the witness statement. A witness statement will need to be sworn or affirmed if it is to be taken into evidence at a hearing.  

A witness statement is lodged by attaching it to a Form 29 – Multipurpose Form. The completed form and attached witness statement can be lodged with the Court by email to electroniclodgementIMC@wairc.wa.gov.au.

The Industrial Magistrates Courts Practice Direction of 2017 (PDF) provides some helpful guidance at point [2] on the type of information that should be included in a witness statement and how it should be structured.

You can discontinue your claim in whole by filing a Form 18 – Notice of Discontinuance – Whole of Claim or in part by filing a Form 19 – Notice of Discontinuance – Part of Claim. The completed form can be lodged with the Court by email to electroniclodgementIMC@wairc.wa.gov.au.