"Unfair dismissal law has been the persistent subject of reform since its inception in Britain and Australia. This paper endeavours to identify the ideas and perceptions that have animated the contestations between traditional and emerging notions of unfair dismissal law producing this reform. In Britain in particular and to a lesser extent in Australia, there has been consideration of a new reform proposal of compensated no fault dismissal which would seek to challenge the normative ideal of industrial justice used to justify traditional unfair dismissal law. The primary arguments being used by proponents of the no fault dismissal proposal pertain to efficiency, simplicity and reducing regulatory burdens upon business. This paper questions whether these arguments provide a sufficient basis for replacing traditional unfair dismissal law with no fault dismissal, arguing that the latter relies upon a commodity conception of work that does not account for benefits other than the economic value which an individual receives from their job. "

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