Final Pay

If you are under 25, for free and confidential legal advice about this topic, please contact us here. 

When you leave a job, your employer needs to pay any money they owe you. This page explains when you should receive your final pay, what should be included and what to do if you haven’t been paid.  

When should I receive final pay?

An employer must normally pay all money owing to the employee within 7 days of their employment ending.  Your employment will either be covered by an employment contract, enterprise agreement or modern award, which may set out a different timeframe for when you should receive your final pay.

For more information, see our pages on Ending employment and Deducting pay. If your employer is refusing to pay your final pay, or is withholding your wages, we strongly recommend that you contact us.

What should be included in my final pay?

An employee should receive the following entitlements in their final pay:

1. Outstanding pay for all hours worked (including penalty rates for things like working weekends);
2. Payment for any accrued annual leave you haven’t taken yet; and
3. In some cases, long service leave, notice pay, or redundancy pay.

It’s important to know that sick leave and carer’s leave is generally not paid out when employment ends, except where an enterprise agreement specifically provides for it.

You can calculate what should be included in your final pay by using the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Notice and Redundancy Calculator.

Have a look below for more detail on the things you should expect in your final pay:

How can I calculate how much I should be paid?

See the Fair Work Ombudsman – Pay & Conditions Tool to calculate how much should be included in your final pay, including wages, leave and redundancy.

For more information on how much you should be paid, you can visit our page on Pay issues.

What you should do if you do not receive your final pay

Reach out to your employer

If you feel comfortable, it’s a good idea to contact your employer directly to ask about your final pay. Before contacting your employer, you can write down what entitlements you think that you are owed and ask them about it. For help talking to your employer, you can visit the Fair Work Ombudsman’s guide to having difficult conversations.

Fair Work Ombudsman

You can contact the Fair Work Ombudsman about pay rates and entitlements. You can contact the Fair Work Ombudsman online, or call them between 8am – 5:30pm Monday to Friday on 13 13 94.

If you don’t feel comfortable contacting your employer, or if you’re not sure what you’re entitled to, you can click here for free and confidential legal advice.