Your rights at work

Every worker in Australia has the right to be paid properly and treated fairly, no matter your job.

If something about your pay or treatment feels wrong, you do not have to work out whether the law has been broken on your own.

All workers have legal rights

Workers in Australia have minimum rights that an employer cannot take away – whatever your visa, and whether you are full-time, part-time, casual, or on a fixed-term contract.

These minimum rights include your pay, maximum weekly hours, breaks, and leave (including annual leave, sick and carer’s leave, parental leave, and family and domestic violence leave).

Your contract, your workplace agreement or your award cannot be enforced if it tries to give you less than these minimum rights.

Workers have the right to be safe at work

Other laws protect you from being mistreated at work. This includes being protected from:

being unfairly, or an unlawful reason
discrimination because of a protected attribute like your age, race or sex
sexual harassment
bullying
being hurt physically or mentally at work.

These are protections from your employer, or from other people at work such as your colleagues. If any of this is happening, you can make a complaint and you can get advice first. [link to contact us]

See What to do if you have been sexually harassed at work; Was I punished for speaking up at work?, Have I really been made redundant?, and Was I forced to resign?

What if these rights don’t cover me?

Some workers in NSW may be covered by state employment laws, which give workers similar rights and protections.

If you are not sure which laws cover you, get advice – you do not need to work this out on your own.

What can workplace exploitation look like?

It can look different from person to person

Workplace exploitation can happen in different ways, including:

not being paid for the hours you worked
not being paid the right pay rate
being hired wrongly as a contractor so your employer avoids having to ensure you are treated as an employee.

Some employers may threaten to harm you. This might be threatening to not pay you, let you go, deport you or get your visa cancelled if you ask about your rights.

If this happens to you, you can still get confidential advice about your workplace rights and how best to protect yourself.

Signs your pay may be wrong

Watch for signs that you are not being paid correctly. These include your employer:

paying you in cash with no record
not paying superannuation
not giving you pay slips
taking money out of your pay without your permission
paying you below the legal minimum wage, or
not paying overtime or penalty rates for weekends or public holidays.

How to check your minimum pay

You can find your minimum pay rate, penalty rates and conditions on the Fair Work Ombudsman’s website. This helps you work out whether you have been unpaid.

Your pay slips

You must get a pay slip within one working day of being paid, even if you are paid in cash.

A pay slip must show:

your wages
your rate of pay (and hours, if you are paid by the hour)
superannuation, and
any deductions or extra payments.

Your employer must keep your records – including pay slips and records of hours worked – for seven years, and you can ask them for a copy.

Money taken out of your pay

Your employer cannot take money out of your pay unless:

you have agreed in writing – and they cannot force you to agree
your award or enterprise agreement allows it.

Any deduction must be reasonable and mainly for your benefit, not for your employer’s benefit. For example, if you accidentally damage something at work, your employer should not take the cost out of your pay.

Reporting underpayment

If you think you have been underpaid, get advice as soon as you can. You generally have six years to claim unpaid entitlements from your employer.

For help with wrong pay slips or to report underpayments you can:

or submit an online enquiry, or
call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94.

Being wrongly treated as a contractor

Some employers treat workers as contractors rather than employees to avoid paying the minimum rights employees are owed. This is sometimes called sham contracting, and it is against the law.

If you are unsure whether you are really a contractor or an employee, get advice. Your employer could be wrong.

If you are being forced to work or cannot leave

If any of these are happening, this is serious. Get help now.

You are being forced to work or made to work to pay off a debt.
You cannot leave your job or the place you work.
Someone is holding your passport or identity documents.
You are being threatened, or your family is being threatened.

Contact Anti-Slavery NSW [insert contact details].

You can still contact us as well, and we can help you find the right support.

If you are on a visa

You have the same pay rights as any other worker even if you are on a visa. There are extra protections if you report being exploited at work.

For what this means for your visa, and the protections for people who report exploitation, see What are my rights and options to work on a visa?

Before you sign anything

If your employer offers you money or an agreement to settle and wants you to sign something, get legal advice before you sign.

Once you sign, it can be hard to take further action.

Support

If you need an interpreter, call the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450 and ask them to call us.

If you are d/Deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech impairment, contact us through TTY on 133 677, Speak and Listen on 1300 555 727, or Internet Relay via the National Relay Service website.

Need support, not legal advice? Call Full Stop Australia on 1800 385 578, or 13YARN at 13 92 76 if you are First Nations.