How to Check and Recover Missing Final Pay After Your Job Ends in Australia

What should be included in your final pay?

Final pay is the last pay you receive after employment ends. At a minimum, check whether you have received all wages owing for hours worked, including applicable penalty rates and allowances, plus any unused annual leave that must be paid out.

Depending on your circumstances, final pay can also include:

• unused annual leave, including annual leave loading if it would have been payable when taking the leave;
• payment in lieu of notice where applicable;
• redundancy pay where you are eligible;
• accrued or pro rata long service leave where applicable;
• other amounts required by an award or enterprise agreement, such as certain accrued time off instead of overtime.

Unused paid sick and carer's leave is not paid out when employment ends.

Check your annual leave and leave loading

When employment ends, an employer must pay out unused annual leave. The payment must be the amount you would have received if you had taken that leave while employed. This means an applicable annual leave loading or other payment that would have applied when taking the leave must also be included.

Compare the leave balance shown in your records with your final pay calculation. Do not assume an employment contract can remove the statutory obligation to pay unused annual leave on termination.

Check whether notice pay is missing

If your employer terminated your employment, the National Employment Standards generally require written notice of the termination date or payment instead of the required notice, subject to statutory exceptions. Where an employer uses payment in lieu of notice, the NES requires that payment before or on the day employment terminates.

Notice entitlement depends on factors including continuous service, age in some circumstances and whether an exception applies. This final-pay procedure is separate from challenging the reason for dismissal. If you believe the dismissal itself was unfair and you need to challenge it, see the separate procedure on applying for unfair dismissal. Different and strict time limits apply to dismissal claims.

Check redundancy pay if your position was made redundant

If your employer no longer required your job to be performed by anyone, you may have been made redundant. Eligible employees can be entitled to redundancy pay under the National Employment Standards, although exceptions apply.

For example, most small business employers do not have to provide NES redundancy pay. Employees with less than 12 months of service also generally do not receive NES redundancy pay, although an award or enterprise agreement can affect the position. Redundancy pay under the NES is calculated using the employee's base rate for ordinary hours, with the number of weeks depending on continuous service.

Redundancy does not remove other final-pay obligations. Outstanding wages, unused annual leave and any other applicable entitlements still need to be checked.

Check long service leave separately

Long service leave requires special care because there is no single uniform rule for every Australian employee. Most employees obtain long service leave entitlements from the law of the State or Territory where they work, although older awards and some industrial instruments can affect the applicable rules.

Unused long service leave is generally paid when employment ends, but whether you qualify for a pro rata payment before reaching the full service period depends on the applicable State or Territory law or industrial instrument and sometimes on how employment ended. Check the law that applies to your employment rather than assuming another State's service threshold or calculation applies.

When should final pay be paid?

There is not one universal 7-day deadline for every Australian employee. The payment date can be set by an award, enterprise agreement, the National Employment Standards or the Fair Work Act.

Most awards require final pay within 7 days after the last day of employment. If your award or enterprise agreement contains a final-pay clause, that rule must be checked. Where no award or enterprise agreement sets a final-pay rule, the Fair Work Act requires employees to be paid at least monthly. A separate NES rule applies to payment in lieu of notice, which must be made before or on the termination date.

What records should you check?

Gather enough evidence to reconstruct the final amount. Useful records include:

• your employment contract or letter of offer;
• your final and earlier pay slips;
• rosters, timesheets or your own records of hours worked;
• annual leave and other leave balances;
• your award or enterprise agreement;
• the dismissal, redundancy or resignation correspondence;
• bank records showing payments actually received;
• emails or messages about your final entitlements.

Employers must keep prescribed time and wage records for 7 years. Pay slips must be provided within 1 working day of pay day, including for former employees receiving their final payment.

Ask your former employer to correct the final pay

The Fair Work Ombudsman recommends trying to resolve a workplace problem directly first, including where employment has already ended. Once you have identified the discrepancy, contact the former employer and clearly state:

• which payment or entitlement appears to be missing;
• the amount you believe is owing, if you can calculate it;
• how you calculated the amount;
• the relevant award, agreement or entitlement where known;
• what correction you are requesting.

If a conversation does not resolve the issue, put the request in writing, attach or identify supporting information, give the employer time to respond and keep a copy of the correspondence.

Ask the Fair Work Ombudsman for help

The Fair Work Ombudsman can help with underpayments and non-payment of wages and entitlements, notice of termination, redundancy entitlements and final pay where the issue falls within its jurisdiction.

You can submit an online enquiry through Fair Work's My account service. The Ombudsman usually encourages parties to try resolving the problem themselves first. Depending on the circumstances, you may be offered its Dispute Assistance service.

Dispute Assistance is free and impartial. It is not a court proceeding or investigation, and the Fair Work Ombudsman cannot force either party to participate or impose an outcome. The service is primarily phone-based. Its published guidance says timeframes vary, but most parties who engage with the service need it for about 2 to 4 weeks.

What if the problem is not resolved?

If the former employer does not correct the payment and the matter cannot be resolved with Fair Work Ombudsman assistance, possible next steps can include seeking help from a union, obtaining legal advice or pursuing an eligible claim through a small claims court process. The appropriate route depends on the type and amount of the entitlement and your circumstances.

If your concern is really about the lawfulness of why you were dismissed rather than unpaid final entitlements, different processes apply. Depending on the circumstances, the relevant procedure may instead be an application involving general protections after dismissal.

What if the missing amount is superannuation?

Unpaid superannuation is handled separately. The Fair Work Ombudsman states that it does not deal with superannuation disputes through its workplace-problem assistance service. If your former employer has not paid required super correctly, check the contributions with your super fund and employer and use the Australian Taxation Office process for reporting unpaid superannuation where necessary.

If you have several super accounts after changing jobs, you may also want to check the separate procedure for finding lost super and consolidating super accounts.

Common final-pay mistakes to avoid

• Do not assume every employee must receive final pay within exactly 7 days; check the applicable award or enterprise agreement.
• Do not leave annual leave loading out of the calculation if it would have been payable when the leave was taken.
• Do not expect unused sick or carer's leave to be cashed out when employment ends.
• Do not assume every redundancy attracts NES redundancy pay; eligibility and exceptions must be checked.
• Do not apply another State or Territory's long service leave rules to your employment.
• Do not treat an unpaid-super complaint as a Fair Work final-pay claim; unpaid super is handled by the ATO.
• Do not confuse recovering unpaid entitlements with challenging a dismissal. Dismissal applications can have separate, short statutory deadlines.