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A recent general protections dismissal claim highlights a need for legislative change in this problematic jurisdiction, according to a workplace lawyer.

The employee claimed that his termination by way of redundancy occurred not because his employer was facing financial trouble and needed to cut costs, as it contended, but because he had made workplace complaints and inquiries.

The Federal Circuit Court dismissed the employee's claim. It found that although he identified 188 occasions that could have led to unlawful adverse action, he hadn't met the threshold requirement of specifying a particular reason for his dismissal, and how that reason contravened the Fair Work Act's general protections provisions. (HR Daily has reported the case in detail here.)

"What is so alarming about the decision is that the [employee] lobbed a whole lot of factual scenarios at the Court and asked the Court to work out whether he had been unlawfully dismissed," Dentons partner Paul O'Halloran says.

"This is a perfect example of the type of case that should be presented to the Attorney-General as grounds for amending the 'complaints and inquiries' provisions of adverse action in the Fair Work Act...