Letter · Employment & Workplace Relations
Disciplinary allegations letter, show cause letter and outcome letter (procedural fairness)
Three linked letters for a disciplinary process: the allegations letter inviting a response, the show cause letter after findings setting out the proposed outcome, and the outcome letter, each built to meet the s 387 procedural fairness factors.
- Kind
- Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Where it applies
- Australia, Commonwealth
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 18 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 18 October 2026 against the 2 authorities it cites, for Australia and Commonwealth.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when an employer is considering disciplinary action, including dismissal, for conduct or capacity. Send the allegations letter before the respondent’s interview, the show cause letter only after findings are signed off by the decision maker, and the outcome letter after considering the response.
Used for these tasks
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
AI may draft the letters from the particularised allegations and the signed findings, but the decision maker decides the findings and the outcome, and the lawyer checks each letter gives a genuine opportunity to respond before it is sent.
AI may
- Draft the allegations letter from the allegation schedule in the terms of reference
- Draft the show cause and outcome letters from the findings the decision maker has signed, quoting them accurately
- Check the letters against each other so the allegations, findings and outcome line up
AI must not
- Must not create findings, reasons or an outcome that the decision maker has not made
- Must not describe the respondent’s response unfairly or omit parts of it
- Must not set response periods shorter than the decision maker approved
The lawyer checks
- Allegations are particularised and the material relied on is provided or described so the employee can respond
- The show cause letter states the findings and the proposed outcome and gives a real opportunity, with a reasonable time and a support person, to respond before a decision
- The outcome letter shows the response was considered and gives the decision and reasons; any termination complies with s 117 notice
- Any prior warnings relied on for performance were actually given and documented
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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