Form · Employment & Workplace Relations
General protections application involving dismissal (Fair Work Commission Form F8): completion guide
Link to the Commission's Form F8 and eligibility questions, with a guide to the 21-day limit, identifying the protection breached, prohibited reasons, the choice between F8 and F2, and the GenAI rules from 20 October 2026.
- Kind
- Form. A form to complete, or a guide to completing an official one.
- 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 official form at fwc.gov.au and the 4 authorities it cites, for Australia and Commonwealth.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Link to the official form. Licence: © Commonwealth of Australia (Fair Work Commission). Link only: use the current form from the Commission each time; do not copy or adapt it.
Where this comes from
The official form is published by fwc.gov.au; this page is a completion guide. Last checked on 2026-10-18.
When to use it
Use when acting for a person dismissed because of a prohibited reason under Part 3-1 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (for example a protected attribute, a workplace right, or industrial activity). For general protections claims not involving dismissal, use Form F8C.
Used for these tasks
- Draft a general-protections or retaliation claim and response
- Build a dismissal chronology and urgent filing check
- Prepare FWC documents with the required AI disclosure
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 help map the facts to the possible protections and build the chronology for the lawyer; the lawyer decides which protection was breached and checks every statement in each application.
AI may
- Build a chronology linking each protected attribute, workplace right or industrial activity to the adverse action, with sources
- List the general protections the facts may engage, for the lawyer to decide
- Calculate the 21-day deadline from the date the dismissal took effect, for the lawyer to diarise
AI must not
- Must not decide the reason for dismissal or which protection was breached
- Must not write a witness statement or declaration in the client's words
- Must not cite a case that has not been checked and hyperlinked
The lawyer checks
- Lodged within 21 days after the dismissal took effect, or evidence of exceptional circumstances
- The protection or protections breached stated; the application cannot be completed if the reason is unknown
- Not underperformance or misconduct alone (not prohibited reasons); consider Form F2 instead
- Redundancy claims: a prohibited reason in the selection identified
- GenAI question answered and the checking statement included if GenAI was used
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Official form
Open the official form. Always use the current version from the issuer. Licence: © Commonwealth of Australia (Fair Work Commission). Link only: use the current form from the Commission each time; do not copy or adapt it..
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.
More in Employment & Workplace Relations
- Employment contract (award-covered and award-free variants)
- Unfair dismissal application (Fair Work Commission Form F2): eligibility, the 21-day limit and completion guide
- General protections application not involving dismissal (Fair Work Commission Form F8C): completion guide
- Fair Work Information Statement, Casual Employment and Fixed Term Contract Information Statements: when and how to give them
- Application for an order to stop bullying at work (Fair Work Commission Form F72): preparation guide
- Employer response to an unfair dismissal application (Form F3): completion guide and jurisdictional-objection checklist
- Workplace generative AI acceptable use policy
- Notice to employees of computer and AI-enabled workplace monitoring (NSW and ACT, with Victorian notes)
- WHS risk assessment for AI-driven work allocation and monitoring (psychosocial hazards)
All precedents for Employment & Workplace Relations · Tasks and AI use in this area