To make a claim for protection of employee rights, you must lodge all three of the following forms:
When completing these forms, please note the following:
- The information on all three forms must be identical
- It is important to correctly name parties
- A statement of claim should be included and can be attached as a separate document
- The respondent’s address cannot be a Post Office Box address
- The Grounds, Act and Orders Sought sections must be completed
The completed forms can be lodged with the Court by email to electroniclodgementIMC@wairc.wa.gov.au. The lodgment fee is $40.00. Once you have lodged your claim, you will usually have 30 days to serve the respondent/s. After you have served the respondent/s, you must lodge an affidavit of service with the Court.
If you have been served a Form 1.3 – Originating Claim (Respondent’s Copy) where you are a named respondent, it is important that you lodge a completed Form 2 – Response with the Court within the time specified on the front of the form. The time specified will either be 21 or 28 days. The completed form can be lodged with the Court by email to electroniclodgementIMC@wairc.wa.gov.au. The lodgement fee is $5.00. You must then serve the claimant with a copy of your response within 14 days of the lodgement of your response. If you do not do these things, the claimant may obtain default judgment against you.
When completing your response, you must select one of the following options in the Response section:
- Wholly deny the claim
- Admit part of the claim
- Wholly admit the claim
If you are not wholly admitting the claim, you need to provide your reasons for this.
If a response has been lodged which does not wholly admit the claim, the Court will arrange a pre-trial conference. A pre-trial conference is a meeting between the parties facilitated by a Clerk of the Court. It is an opportunity for the parties to confidentially discuss the claim and come to an agreed resolution without the need to go to a hearing.
Attendance is compulsory and you should let the Court know as soon as possible if you have any concerns about attending or accessibility by contacting the Registry on (08) 9420 4467 or registry@wairc.wa.gov.au.
If the claim cannot be resolved at the pre-trial conference, it will be scheduled to proceed to a hearing. This may involve the Clerk of the Court making orders to help prepare the matter for hearing. These orders can include:
- The requirement for one or more parties to lodge Case Outline/Further and Better Particulars of Case Outline. The Court's Practice Direction 1 of 2017 (PDF) outlines the procedures to be followed for these
- Programming the matter to substantive hearing which may include timelines for the exchange of documents between the parties, including witness statements
Directions Hearing
An Industrial Magistrate may conduct a directions hearing before a claim goes to the substantive hearing. Matters that may be covered in a directions hearing include:
- Identifying the issues that require determination at the substantive hearing (often referred to as the 'issues in dispute')
- Identifying any interim issues that need to be determined before the substantive hearing
- Issuing or amending programming orders
- Identifying the evidence proposed to be called by the parties at the substantive hearing and how that evidence can be presented
- Exploring the prospects of a settlement of the claim on terms that are agreed upon by the parties
- Listing the claim for the substantive hearing
Substantive Hearing
A substantive hearing, which is sometimes referred to as a trial, is where the Court will hear and determine the substance or merits of the claim in dispute. It is a formal process held at the Court where each party presents their version of what has happened to an Industrial Magistrate.
Hearings usually proceed in the following manner:
- The claimant will make their case first, calling witnesses and providing documents and other evidence to the Court
- The respondent then has their turn to make their case and respond to anything the claimant has raised and present their evidence to the Court
- The claimant then has the opportunity to respond to anything the respondent has raised
Decision
The Industrial Magistrate looks at the evidence, decides the outcome of the claim and makes an order/s. The Industrial Magistrate may give their decision and make orders at the end of the hearing or they may reserve their decision (meaning they will give their decision and make orders at a later date).
The Court’s decisions are required to be published online and remain on the public record.