The Fair Work Commission is receiving a surge in workplace claims, driven by the use of AI tools. (Source: AAP)
Disgruntled Aussie workers who have been laid off are turning to artificial intelligence tools to generate unfair dismissal and workplace complaints. Workers can create complaints within a few minutes, with AI chatbots reportedly telling scorned employees they are likely to receive payouts even when their claims are baseless.
Fair Work Commission (FWC) president Adam Hatcher recently revealed the workplace tribunal was being clogged up by AI-generated claims. The FWC has received a record number of lodgements, with its total workload increasing by more than 70 per cent in the space of three years.
HR expert Jonathon Woolfrey told Yahoo Finance aggrieved workers were putting their situation into ChatGPT or other AI tools, and it would often respond with an affirming and positive response about making a claim.
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“Within minutes, a worker can generate what sounds like a plausible unfair dismissal or general protection claim. Then they think, why not have a go and lodge it?” he said.
The problem is that AI tools can be prone to inventing fake dismissal stories, having “hallucinations”, and using incorrect references. So while applications might look like they hold legal water, in reality, they have no chance of being successful.
“They’re given false impressions by AI, specifically ChatGPT, that does its very best just to invent a reason for them,” Woolfrey said.
“A general worker wouldn’t then be able to critique what ChatGPT is telling them because that’s not their expertise. You would take it on face value.”
A number of companies have recently rolled out redundancies for Australian staff citing a shift towards AI. Ironically, some of those same AI displaced workers could be using the technology in a bid for some Hail Mary retribution.
Talenting founder Jonathon Woolfrey has encouraged Aussies to seek expert advice, free or paid, if they are genuinely looking to make a claim. (Source: Talenting/Getty)
In a speech to the Victorian Bar Association last month, Hatcher revealed the FWC’s operations were being “significantly disrupted” by the availability and use of AI tools.
Annual lodgements are expected to hit between 50,000 to 55,000 by July, up from the previous “normal” of 30,000 matters a year. The rapid increase is primarily being driven by the increasing use of AI tools by potential litigants.
Hatcher said AI tools could invent facts to justify a weak unfair dismissal claim, “gloss up” a general protection claim for those who don’t qualify, and “give a sheen of legal plausibility” to cases that, on analysis, don’t have reasonable prospects of success.
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Hatcher said the “penny dropped” when he tried using ChatGPT himself to prepare a meritless dismissal claim late last year.
After he provided ChatGPT with a few basic facts, including telling it he believed he had been sacked because he made a complaint a few years earlier, it prepared an application in less than 10 minutes.
Hatcher said the application included a “substantially-invented story” about his dismissal, with ChatGPT claiming that in a “realistic scenario”, he would get in the range of $15,000 to $40,000 compensation.
“And this was for a putative case which, on the facts I provided to ChatGPT, could not be assessed as having reasonable prospects of success,” he said.
FWC has now reformed its procedures by requiring applicants to disclose the use of AI in all forms and documents.
This is currently done on an ad hoc basis, but Hatcher said the intention was for all forms to include an AI disclosure requirement in the near future.
Woolfrey urged workers who are genuinely looking to make a FWC claim to think twice before using AI.
He admitted the reality was that there wasn’t a great detriment to workers having a crack and submitting a claim, and this was half the problem.
“At the conciliation stage of it, which is what gets triggered, there’s no costs awarded. All the worker has to give up is their own time,” Woolfrey said.
“The only downfall for workers in putting these in, is they embarrass themselves. They clog up the time, their expectations get raised, and on a case that has no merit that they don’t realise, they’re distracted from actually getting on with their life and actually finding a new role or moving on with their life as well.”
If a worker did continue to push the issue and the matter went to a hearing, then Woolfrey warned they could be liable for costs if their claim is completely spurious.
“It’s unlikely, but if they continue to waste the court’s time, that could be a consequence down the track,” he said.
Woolfrey said the reality was people would continue to use AI tools for advice.
He recommended people also seek expert advice so they don’t end up wasting their time and that of the FWC. Some options include FWC’s free legal advice referrals or an employment law centre in your state.
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