What is the Fair Work Commission?
The Commission describes itself as Australia's independent workplace relations tribunal and registered organisations regulator, and states that it was established under the Fair Work Act 2009. It is required to perform and exercise its functions in a manner that is informal, avoids unnecessary technicalities, is open and transparent, and promotes harmonious and cooperative workplace relations.
Its responsibilities group into four areas. Dispute resolution covers dismissals, individual and collective workplace disputes and other industrial issues. Labour standards covers the annual review of the national minimum wage order and modern award minimum wages, varying and maintaining modern awards, equal remuneration for work of equal or comparable value, and minimum standards for regulated workers. Bargaining and enterprise agreements covers facilitating bargaining and assessing and approving agreements. Registered organisations regulation sits with the Commission's General Manager as the independent regulator.
Constitutionally it is a bench. Under section 629A of the Fair Work Act the President has the same status as a Judge of the Federal Court, and carries the title Justice. Below the President sit Vice Presidents, Deputy Presidents and Commissioners, based across Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth and Sydney. Expert Panel Members hold office on a part-time basis for a period that must not exceed five years, and section 631 allows members of state industrial tribunals to hold Commission appointments at the same time.
Who deals with the Fair Work Commission?
Practically, any employer or employee in the national workplace relations system. The Commission lists the common issues it helps with as unfair dismissal, bullying, sexual harassment, dismissal under general protections, unfair deactivation or termination for regulated workers, disputes about flexible work or unpaid parental leave, changes from casual to permanent employment, and right to disconnect disputes.
The distinction from the Fair Work Ombudsman trips people up constantly, and the two agencies publish material specifically to separate themselves. The Ombudsman informs and enforces. The Commission hears and decides. The Ombudsman states directly that it does not investigate unfair dismissal complaints and that an employee who believes they have been unfairly dismissed must apply to the Commission within 21 days of the dismissal.
Right to disconnect disputes follow the same path. Where a workplace-level discussion does not resolve the matter, either party can go to the Commission, which can make orders including orders to stop an employee refusing contact or to stop an employer taking certain actions.
Where does AI fit at the Fair Work Commission?
The Commission is one of the few Australian regulators to have published hard numbers on how generative AI is changing its own workload. In a presentation to the Victorian Bar Association on 18 February 2026, the President described the effect using Hemingway's line about going bankrupt gradually and then suddenly.
The lodgment figures he presented tell the story. The normal until about 2023 was a bit above 30,000 matters a year. There was a sudden increase in 2023 to 2024 to around 40,000 matters, a record. In 2024 to 2025 there was a further jump to about 44,000, another record. For 2025 to 2026 the projection is between 50,000 and 55,000, and the presentation states there is no sign of the growth trend levelling out and no clarity on what the new normal will be. The President attributed the disruption to the availability and use of AI tools rather than principally to the Secure Jobs, Better Pay and Closing Loopholes reforms.
The Commission's response has two parts. On inputs, the President published an exposure draft Guidance Note on the use of generative artificial intelligence in Commission cases in March 2026, with comments invited to 10 April 2026. The draft sets out requirements that apply when someone uses generative AI to prepare an application or any other document lodged in a case: tell the Commission you used it, and check all details are correct and relevant. A draft Use of GenAI section was also proposed for Commission forms.
On its own use, the Commission's artificial intelligence transparency statement, first published in February 2025, adopts the OECD definition of an AI system, records that an internal Artificial Intelligence Assessment Committee approves AI projects and oversees the maintenance of a register of approved AI tools, and states that the Commission does not currently use generative AI in a way the public could interact with or be significantly impacted by without a human intermediary or intervention. It is explicit that the power to make the relevant decisions can only be exercised by an appropriate human office holder.
What should practitioners do about the Fair Work Commission?
If generative AI touches a document you lodge, assume disclosure will be required and verify every citation, date and factual assertion before filing. The draft Guidance Note is aimed precisely at the problems unchecked AI drafting creates for both parties and the tribunal, and a fabricated authority in a submission is a self-inflicted wound.
Expect longer timeframes. A caseload heading toward 55,000 matters against a historical baseline above 30,000 is a scheduling reality, not a temporary spike, so build it into dispute strategy and settlement expectations.
For employers, the more durable lesson is upstream. Most of what reaches the Commission starts as a workplace decision that was not documented well enough to defend. Read this alongside the Fair Work Act 2009 entry and the HR section, and keep the human reasoning for any AI-assisted decision on the file.
Bottom line
The Fair Work Commission is the tribunal that hears and decides national workplace relations matters and the regulator of registered organisations, which is what separates it from the Fair Work Ombudsman that informs and enforces. It is one of the few Australian bodies to have published hard figures on how generative AI is changing its own workload, and its lodgment growth shows no sign of levelling out. For practitioners that cuts two ways: if generative AI touches a document you lodge, assume disclosure will be expected and verify every citation, date and factual assertion before filing, and treat longer timeframes as a scheduling reality rather than a temporary spike. The more durable lesson sits upstream, because most of what reaches the Commission began as a workplace decision that was never documented well enough to defend.
TheAICommand. Intelligence, At Your Command.*
TheAICommand. Intelligence, At Your Command.