If an employer owes you any money when you leave your job, they need to pay it to you.
An employer must normally pay all money owing to the employee within 7 days of their employment ending. If your employment is covered by an employment contract or enterprise agreement, your contract or the relevant agreement might also set out when you should receive your final pay.
If your employer is refusing to pay your final pay, or is withholding your wages, we strongly recommend that you contact us.
For more information about ending employment, you can visit our page here.
An employee should receive the following entitlements in their final pay:
It’s important to know that sick leave and carer’s leave is not paid out when employment ends.
You can calculate what should be included in your final pay by using the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Notice and Redundancy Calculator.
You should be paid for all time worked. For more information about pay issues, including calculating how much you should be paid, you can visit our Pay Issues page.
If you are a part-time or full-time employee, you are entitled to a certain amount of paid leave per year. If, when your employment ends, you have a period of untaken annual leave, your employer must pay you the amount that you would have received had you taken that period of leave.
If you receive annual leave loading during employment, your employer should also pay this when your employment ends.
You can calculate any outstanding annual leave entitlements owed using the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Leave Calculator.
Any unused long service leave has to be paid out at the end of employment. For more information about long service leave, you can visit the Fair Work Ombudsman’s website here.
Your employer may decide to pay out your notice period instead of allowing you to work until the end of your notice period. This is called payment in lieu of notice.
If your employer gives you payment in lieu of notice, they must pay the full rate of pay for the hours that you would have worked, had you continued with your employment until the end of the notice period.
For example, if you work 20 hours per week but your employer asks you not to work for the remaining week until you are terminated, you are still entitled to 20 hours’ worth of pay.
If you were terminated because of a redundancy, you may be entitled to redundancy pay based on how long you have been employed. Redundancy pay does not need to be paid in some circumstances, for example, if you have worked for the employer for less than 12 months or if your employer is a small business.
For more information about redundancy and dismissal, you can visit our page here.
You can use the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Notice and Redundancy Pay Calculator to find out how much you should be paid if your job has been made redundant.
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.
If you don’t feel comfortable contacting your employer, or if you’re not sure what you’re entitled to, you can contact us for free and confidential legal advice here.
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 have a problem or a question, you can send it to us today and we can provide you with free advice, information and referrals to help solve your problem. Just click on the button below.
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