Introduction
Information you give us will usually go on the public record. If you don't want information about your case to be publicly available, you can apply for a confidentiality order.
Content
Applying to us at the Fair Work Commission starts a legal process.
Information that you give us will usually go on the public record. It may become available to other people, including people who are not involved in the case.
If you are worried about particular information being passed on, don’t include it with your application. Contact us to talk about whether you should provide the information.
What we usually publish
Member conferences and determinative conferences are almost always held in private. Hearings are usually held in public, for transparency and open justice.
We usually publish the date and time of each hearing on our hearings schedule. We also publish the names of the parties. For sexual harassment disputes, if the applicant is an individual, we may only publish their initials.
Decisions about cases, made after a determinative conference or a hearing, are usually published on our website.
Sensitive information
Certain cases, such as sexual harassment cases and general protections cases involving family and domestic violence, often involve sensitive personal information.
If you want to send information to us that you want to keep confidential (private), you can apply for a confidentiality order.
Confidentiality orders
A confidentiality order says which parts of your case will be kept confidential (private).
You can ask us to make a confidentiality order at any time during your case.
A Commission Member can make a confidentiality order if they believe that they should because of the confidential nature of the evidence, or for any other reason.
Some examples of what a Commission Member may decide are:
- that all or part of a hearing must be private, and who can (or must) be there
- not to publish sensitive personal information on our website
- not to publish some of the evidence or documents from a hearing
- not to share all of the evidence or documents in a case with all of the people at a hearing
- not to include confidential information (such as a person's name) in a decision or other document.
Apply for a confidentiality order
Content
To apply for a confidentiality order, send us an email telling us what you want to keep confidential (private) and why.
If your case has already started, use the contact details on the notice or letter we sent you. Make sure you include the case number in your email.
If the case hasn't started yet, or if you have questions about the process, you can contact us at the Commission office near you.