MyFWC Is Offline 16–19 October: How to Lodge a Dismissal Claim This Weekend, and the AI Rules That Start Monday

• MyFWC is unavailable from 8pm AEDT Friday 16 October until 8am AEDT Monday 19 October 2026. The Commission is taking it offline to launch an expanded portal.
• The 21-day deadline for dismissal claims does not pause. If your deadline falls this weekend, download the form and email it to lodge@fwc.gov.au. The Commission's notice says that counts as lodging.
• From Monday 19 October, unfair dismissal and general protections dismissal cases run through the portal from start to finish.
• From Tuesday 20 October, the Commission's rules on generative AI apply to every document you lodge.

Source: Fair Work Commission, Expanded MyFWC portal available from 19 October (13 October 2026).

An unfair dismissal application must be lodged within 21 days after the dismissal took effect (Fair Work Act s 394(2)). A general protections dismissal application has the same 21-day limit (s 366). Late applications need "exceptional circumstances", and a planned portal outage that the Commission announced a week in advance is unlikely to qualify on its own. Treat the deadline as fixed.

1. Pick the right form. Form F2 for unfair dismissal, Form F8 for a general protections dismissal claim. If you are not sure which applies, our which-claim triage and unfair dismissal checker sort it in a few minutes. Forms are on the Commission's forms page.
2. Complete it as a document. Fill in the PDF or Word form, attach your termination letter or the evidence of the dismissal date, and save a copy.
3. Email it to lodge@fwc.gov.au. Put your name and "Form F2 unfair dismissal application" (or F8) in the subject line. Keep the sent email; the timestamp is your proof of lodgment.
4. Do not wait for Monday if your day 21 is Saturday or Sunday. Email it on Friday or on the day itself. The Commission's deadlines page explains how it counts days.

Employers responding to a claim: the Form F3 response is still expected within 7 days of being served. If that window closes over the weekend, email the F3 the same way.

MyFWC replaced the old Online Lodgment System for dismissal applications earlier this year. From Monday it covers the whole case. According to the Commission, from 19 October you will be able to:

• apply online in unfair dismissal and general protections dismissal cases;
• view the details of a dismissal case and the contact details of the parties and their representatives;
• access case documents and upload documents to the case;
• view directions, decisions and orders issued by Commission Members;
• view and access proceedings.

All new dismissal cases will be managed through the portal. Existing dismissal cases also move to MyFWC, unless the case has already been allocated to a Commission Member. The Commission says it will contact you if your case is affected, so watch the email address you used when you lodged.

The practical change for self-represented applicants is that directions and decisions will appear in the portal rather than only arriving by email or post. Check it regularly once your case is in there, especially around conciliation dates.

The Commission's Guidance Note on the use of generative AI in Commission cases commences on 20 October 2026, the day after the portal reopens. If you used an AI tool to help create, write, edit or prepare any document you lodge, three things apply:

1. Disclose it, and say how you used it.
2. Verify every fact, case, section and quote yourself, then state that you did. Asking an AI tool to check its own work does not count.
3. Witness statements must be in the witness's own words and from their own knowledge.

The application and response forms are being changed so that everyone, whether or not they used AI, fills in an AI-use section and signs a verification declaration. Representatives who cite cases must hyperlink them. A document that does not comply can be given less weight, disregarded, or in a serious case lead to costs or dismissal of the application. The Commission's generative AI page has the note and the forms. For the full rules and the law changes from July that sit behind them, read Unfair dismissal changes 2026: on-the-papers decisions and the FWC's AI rules.

Our Claim Pack builds an unfair dismissal or general protections application from your own documents and dates, and every export carries the AI-use disclosure the Commission asks for, with the cited authorities linked. You still do the checking; the pack is built so that you can.