Unfair Dismissal Lawyers for Employers Melbourne

Practical, employer-focused advice for Melbourne and Australian businesses managing dismissals, grievances and Fair Work claims

Terminating an employee is one of the most legally sensitive decisions a business will make. Even when the underlying decision is sound, an unfair dismissal claim can disrupt operations, damage workplace culture, and expose a business to compensation, legal costs, and reputational risk if the process behind it isn’t properly managed.

At Hentys Lawyers, we act exclusively for employers, providing practical, commercially focused advice on dismissals before they happen and strong representation if a claim is made. Our integrated approach draws on experience in employment law, workplace investigations, and industrial relations to help businesses make defensible decisions and respond confidently when a claim lands. We work with employers across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and the rest of Australia.

We assist employers with reviewing termination decisions before they’re made, running and overseeing misconduct investigations, preparing the documentation and disciplinary records a defensible process relies on, and representing businesses through conciliation, hearings and, where matters escalate, the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia or the Federal Court.

For urgent WorkCover and Employment matters, please call Timothy Ashton at any time on 0416 094 174.

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Where Unfair Dismissal Claims Come From

Genuinely difficult judgment calls don’t spark most unfair dismissal claims — avoidable gaps in process spark them. An employee dismissed for poor performance without prior warning, terminated during probation without any real process, or let go for misconduct that was never properly investigated creates fertile ground for a claim, regardless of how serious the underlying issue actually was. We also see claims emerge from inconsistency, where one employee is dismissed for conduct that another was only warned about, and from timing that looks suspicious even when it isn’t — such as a termination that follows closely on the heels of personal leave or a workplace injury.

The Fair Work Commission doesn’t expect perfection from employers. What it does expect is a process that was fair, proportionate, and genuinely followed through. The businesses that get into trouble are usually the ones that skipped a step they didn’t think mattered at the time.

The Mistakes That Sink an Employer’s Case

By the time a matter reaches conciliation or a hearing, the strength of an employer’s position usually comes down to documentation and consistency. A termination decided weeks before the “process” that supposedly led to it, a manager who can’t produce notes from the meetings that mattered, or a disciplinary record that looks different for one employee than for another doing the same thing — these are the patterns that turn a defensible dismissal into a costly settlement. Predetermined outcomes are particularly damaging: if it’s clear the decision was made before the employee was ever given a genuine chance to respond, no amount of paperwork created afterwards will fix that.

Building a Process That Holds Up

A defensible dismissal rests on two things: genuine procedural fairness and a clear paper trail. That means telling the employee the substance of what’s being considered, giving them a real opportunity to respond, allowing a support person if one is requested, and ensuring the final decision is proportionate to what was actually established rather than what was assumed. It also means having the records to prove all of that happened — performance history, prior warnings, meeting notes, investigation findings, and the employee’s own responses, created at the time rather than reconstructed afterwards. Even where the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code applies, fairness must be real, not just claimed.

How Hentys Lawyers Can Help

We work with employers at every stage of a termination, not just once a claim has already landed. Our team can:

Advise on a specific termination decision before it’s made, including eligibility, risk and process
Review your documentation and disciplinary history before you act
Run or oversee misconduct investigations so they hold up to scrutiny
Represent you in conciliation and at hearing before the Fair Work Commission
Train your managers to run a defensible process from the outset

Getting advice early — before the termination letter goes out — is consistently the difference between a clean exit and a contested claim.

Our Expert Unfair Dismissal Legal Team in Melbourne

As specialists in unfair dismissal matters, our team combines deep knowledge of the Fair Work Act’s unfair dismissal provisions with practical industrial experience, providing employers with strategic, defensible advice on termination decisions before they’re made. We are trusted for our experience reviewing dismissal processes for procedural fairness and defending employers in conciliation and at hearing before the Fair Work Commission—ensuring your business has access to clear, effective advice and representation when it matters most, 24/7.