Small Business and Unfair Dismissal

By Rowena Barrett

The Coalition has said that exempting small business from unfair dismissal provisions of the Workplace Relations Act will create 53000 new jobs in the small business sector.

The purpose of this research note is to evaluate small business access to and use of unfair dismissal provisions of the WRA. In doing so, small business job-generating potential is examined, as is the evidence that the unfair dismissal provisions inhibit small business employment growth. In conclusion, suggestions are made for further research on the link between unfair dismissal and small business are made in order policy is grounded in evidence rather than ideology.