Unfair Dismissal Claim

Joe decided to start a new career as a real estate agent later in life. His employment contract provided a minimal base salary only for the first 12 months plus commissions on sales. Joe knew that his take home pay would initially be limited, but also knew it would increase substantially once he had built up a book of future sales. After 12 months of employment, Joe had been quite successful and even won a staff award for most sales in a month. One day his boss, without any reason, terminated Joe's employment. This meant that Joe could potentially lose about $30,000 of commissions that were expected to be paid over the next few months. He was also told that he couldn't work for any competitors in the area as his employment contract included a restraint of trade clause. This meant that in total he would lose his expected income of about $50,000 over the next 6 months. Joe went to see the Employment Law solicitor at Hutchinson Legal and was advised that he had a good unfair dismissal claim against his employer. Joe's solicitor promptly issued a letter of demand to the employer. In response, the employer offered Joe an insufficient amount to try and settle the claim. Legal proceedings were commenced. During subsequent negotiations at the Conciliation Conference, the matter was resolved with Joe receiving his full entitlements including the commissions that were owing and further compensation for the loss of his job for a further 3 months.