Know your rights

Workplace injuries and compensation

Workers compensation is a compulsory insurance your employer has to hold by law. This is worth understanding: the money doesn't come out of their pocket, it comes from the insurer. A lot of people don't claim because they don't want to hurt their boss, or because they think the business couldn't afford it, and neither of those reasons applies.

• It applies regardless of your visa, and also if you're paid in cash or were made to get an ABN and work as a "contractor". What decides it is the real working relationship, not the paperwork.
• It doesn't have to be a single day's accident. An injury that built up over time - a back from lifting every day, a shoulder from a repeated movement - counts too. In most schemes, a psychological injury caused by work does as well.
• The medical certificate is the central document. It has to say the injury is work-related and what you can and can't do. It gets renewed periodically, and if one expires with no replacement, payments can stop. Always ask for a copy.
• It covers more than wages. As well as part of your income, it normally covers medical treatment and rehabilitation related to the injury. Keep every receipt, including travel to appointments.
• Report it in writing and keep a copy. A message or an email, with a date, beats saying it in person. If you already said it out loud, send a message anyway saying "as I mentioned today...".
• Each state has its own scheme. The regulator, the process and the time limits change depending on where you work: icare in NSW, WorkSafe in Victoria, WorkCover in Queensland, among others. Calling the wrong one costs days.
• Being put "on call" and then given no shifts is not the same as resigning or abandoning the job. Keep any related messages and note the dates.
• Don't sign someone else's version. If your employer or the insurer describes events in a way that doesn't match yours, don't sign or agree to anything without advice. You're entitled to take it away and read it calmly.

Has the claim already been lodged? See what happens next, stage by stage →

Unfair dismissal and lack of shifts

Time is what presses hardest here: the limit to lodge an unfair dismissal claim with the Fair Work Commission is generally 21 days from when the dismissal took effect, and it's one of the few that almost never comes back. But "dismissal" covers more situations than people think, and there's more than one pathway to claim.

• There's more than one route, and they aren't the same. Unfair dismissal is one. If you were dismissed for asserting your rights, for complaining, for union membership, or because of a characteristic of yours, that's a "general protections" claim with its own pathway. Choosing wrong costs time: ask the Fair Work Ombudsman first (13 13 94), free and with interpreters.
• Losing your shifts can count as a dismissal. If in practice they ended your job, the name they give it doesn't change what happened. Ask in writing for confirmation of whether your employment ended and why; if they don't reply, there's still a record that you asked.
• Resigning under pressure can still be a dismissal. If you were left with no reasonable alternative - "resign or we'll sack you", or the job made deliberately unbearable - that can be treated as a dismissal rather than a resignation. Talk to someone before signing a resignation.
• Being "casual" doesn't mean having no rights. Someone who worked regularly and systematically for a period can have access to an unfair dismissal claim. Don't assume you don't qualify.
• There's normally a minimum period of employment before you can claim unfair dismissal - around six months, and longer if the business is small - but "small business" has its own definition, and other pathways don't require that minimum. If you'd only been there a short time, ask rather than ruling it out.
• Save everything before you lose access. Rosters, the work group chat, emails, payslips, dated screenshots. If you used a company system or chat, you can be locked out overnight.
• Even if the dismissal window closes, the money is still in play. Your final pay, untaken leave, overtime and superannuation run through a different pathway with much longer limits.

Work out how much time you have → · What happens if you lodge a claim →

Pay and working conditions

What you're owed isn't decided by what you signed or agreed to verbally: it's decided by the award or agreement that applies to your type of work, plus the minimums the law sets for everyone. An agreement for less than that minimum doesn't hold, even if you signed it.

• Check your real minimum pay, for free. It depends on your industry, your role and your level, not on what you were offered. The Fair Work Ombudsman has tools to calculate it and takes calls on 13 13 94 with interpreters.
• It isn't only the hourly rate. Many awards pay more for weekends, nights, public holidays and overtime. If you worked Sundays at the same rate as a Tuesday, that's worth checking.
• If you're casual, you should get an hourly loading ("casual loading"), precisely because you don't accrue annual or sick leave. A casual paid the same rate as a permanent employee is normally underpaid.
• A payslip is compulsory, shortly after each pay, and it has to show your hours, the rate and superannuation. Not getting payslips is a breach in itself: mention it when you claim.
• You can be paid in cash, but the records are still required. Cash doesn't mean "no rights" or "no super": it means keeping your own record of hours is worth the effort.
• An ABN doesn't make you a contractor. If you were made to get one but in practice you work as an employee - set hours, supervision, the company's tools - employee entitlements may still apply. Passing an employee off as a contractor is prohibited.
• Deductions from your pay have limits. They generally need your written authorisation and have to be for your benefit. Docking you for breaking something, for being late, or for a till error is normally not allowed.
• An unpaid trial can only be brief, just long enough to show you can do the job. Weeks of unpaid "training" or "trial" are normally not lawful.
• Keep your own record of hours, even if your employer keeps one too. If the two ever disagree, what you noted at the time counts for a lot.
• Claiming what you're owed is protected. Visa protections exist for people claiming pay, even if they worked more hours than their visa allowed - see "Migration protection" below.

Superannuation: the money almost nobody checks

Superannuation ("super") is retirement money your employer must pay on top of your wages, into an account in your name. It doesn't come out of your wages: it's extra. Because you never see it in your bank account, it's the easiest thing to go unpaid without anyone noticing - and over time it can add up to a lot.

• Check whether it's actually being paid. Log in to myGov and look at your super fund. It shows what your employer paid in and when. If there are no payments, or they're less than your payslips say, something is wrong.
• Your payslips must show it. If your payslip doesn't mention super, or shows an amount that never reached your fund, keep that payslip: it's your evidence.
• You claim it through the ATO, not Fair Work. This trips a lot of people up. Unpaid super is investigated by the Australian Taxation Office; Fair Work handles wages and conditions, not super.
• The time limit is long. Unlike unfair dismissal, unpaid super can be claimed years later. If you worked somewhere a while ago and never checked, it's still worth looking.
• It applies regardless of your visa, and also if you're paid in cash. If you were made to get an ABN and work as a "contractor" but in practice you were an employee, it may still apply.

Harassment, abuse and discrimination

These are different things with different pathways, and knowing which is which saves time. Discrimination is being treated worse because of a characteristic of yours: your background, your race, your language or accent, your gender, your age, a disability, a pregnancy. Workplace bullying is repeated unreasonable behaviour that puts your health at risk. Sexual harassment has its own pathway. All of them are unlawful, regardless of your migration status.

• Document each incident the same day. Date, time, place, the exact words if you remember them, who was present and how it affected you. A record made the same day carries far more weight than a memory reconstructed months later.
• It counts even if it wasn't aimed at you. A hostile work environment - remarks about migrants, constant sexual jokes, offensive images - can be unlawful even if nobody spoke to you directly.
• "It was a joke" doesn't erase it. A racial slur or a comment about your accent doesn't stop counting because the person saying it was laughing.
• Your employer has to prevent it, not just react. Since late 2022 there's a positive duty to take steps to prevent sexual harassment at work, not only to respond once someone complains.
• Work safety covers mental health too. Psychosocial hazards - an impossible workload, bullying, deliberate isolation - fall under work health and safety rules, so your state's safety regulator is another possible door.
• Punishing you for complaining is a separate breach. If your shifts are cut, you're moved, or you're dismissed after raising something, that can be "adverse action" and has its own pathway.
• You aren't required to complain inside the company first. You can go straight to an external body, and they're free. If complaining internally would put you at risk, don't.
• If your safety is at immediate risk, call 000. And if you need to talk to someone right now, Lifeline is on 13 11 14, 24 hours.

What happens if you lodge a complaint →

Migration protection when claiming your rights

This is the fear that stops people most, and the one most often exploited: "claim and you'll lose your visa". It helps to separate two things that aren't the same. Your workplace rights don't depend on your visa. And your visa isn't in your employer's hands: only the Department of Home Affairs can cancel it, not a company or an angry supervisor.

• Claiming unpaid wages, injury compensation, or unfair dismissal is not, by itself, grounds for visa cancellation.
• Since July 2024, Australia has run a two-year pilot called the Workplace Justice Visa: it lets you stay in Australia for 6 to 12 months, free of charge and with work rights, to seek a resolution with an employer who didn't respect your working conditions (pay, safety, discrimination, harassment). Because it's a pilot program, its availability can change - confirm the current status and whether you qualify with the Fair Work Ombudsman or Migrant Workers Centre before making decisions based on this.
• There are also protections against your visa being cancelled for reporting visa-related work issues; the exact detail can also change, so confirm it with the Fair Work Ombudsman.
• For specific questions about your visa, only a registered migration agent (check the official OMARA register) or a migration lawyer can give you formal legal advice.
• Be wary of anyone charging without being registered. Charging for migration advice without being on the OMARA register isn't allowed, and it's one of the most common ways migrant workers get taken advantage of. Before paying anyone, look up their number on the official register. Some community legal centres give migration guidance for free.
• Threatening to "call immigration" to stop you claiming is not lawful. If someone at work uses your visa as pressure, write it down with the date and the exact words: rather than weakening your case, that kind of threat usually strengthens it.
• If you were on a sponsored visa and the job ends, there's normally a period to find another sponsor, change visas, or leave. That window is short and starts running on its own: confirm it as soon as you can with a registered agent or a lawyer, even before deciding whether to claim.
• Nobody has the right to keep your passport - not your employer, not an agent, not whoever found you the job. Keep copies of your passport and your visa grant notice somewhere you can get into yourself, without depending on anyone.