What happens after you lodge an unfair dismissal application
The employer gets 7 days to respond, a conciliation date is set for around 5 weeks out, and a jurisdictional objection, if raised, is usually dealt with separately.
Once an application is lodged, the Fair Work Commission sends a copy to the employer and asks for a response within 7 days. If the employer raises a jurisdictional objection, for example arguing the dismissal was a genuine redundancy or that you were not eligible, the Commission holds a separate jurisdictional hearing, usually after conciliation rather than before it.
The conciliation date
The Commission sends both parties a notice with a date and time for a conciliation meeting, usually about 5 weeks after the application is received. This is voluntary but common; the Commission's own figure is that about 75% of cases resolve at this stage, a settlement rate, not a rate of the employee's claim being upheld on its merits.
If it does not settle
Where conciliation does not resolve the case, it moves to a Commission Member for a formal hearing or conference, and from there to a decision, which either party can appeal within 21 days.
What to expect in the weeks between lodging and conciliation
This is the stretch where most of the practical preparation happens, because the timeline moves faster than it feels like it should once the notice arrives. Both sides typically use this window to gather the material they would rely on at conciliation: dates, the stated reason for the dismissal, any warnings or correspondence, and pay records. The Fair Work Commission's own guidance frames conciliation as a chance to explain your position and hear the other side's, not as a formal hearing, so nothing in this window requires the kind of preparation a court appearance would.
The jurisdictional objection question is separate from the merits
If your employer raises a jurisdictional objection, it does not automatically mean your claim is weak; it means the Commission needs to resolve a threshold question, such as whether you met the minimum employment period or whether the dismissal was genuinely a redundancy, before the harsh, unjust or unreasonable question is even reached. That objection is usually heard after conciliation, which is why conciliation still tends to go ahead even where an objection has been flagged.