Fair Work Commission issues guidance on generative AI use

The Australian Fair Work Commission (FWC) has issued new guidance and rulings regarding the use of generative AI in workplace disputes. Following a case where a former ALDI employee was ordered to pay $1,230 in compensation after pursuing a ‘hopeless’ unfair dismissal claim using AI-generated documents, the regulator is taking steps to manage an influx of AI-assisted claims.

In the ALDI case, the employee submitted AI-drafted emails that included visible drafting notes, such as ‘Here is your final clean copy-paste version’. The FWC deputy president noted that blindly submitting AI outputs wastes the Commission’s and employers’ time.

New FWC guidance mandates that from October 20, 2026, applicants must disclose if and how generative AI was used in their documents. The regulator warned that failure to comply could result in documents being given less weight, being disregarded entirely, or the applicant being ordered to pay the other party’s legal costs. The guidance also cautions against feeding confidential information into public AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and Gemini, and emphasizes the need to verify AI-generated case references to prevent ‘hallucinated’ details.