My employer hasn't paid me: what can I do?

Your rights do not depend on your visa

Home Affairs says workers have the same basic workplace rights and protections regardless of citizenship or visa, and contracts cannot take those rights away. Your employer cannot cancel your visa: only Home Affairs can.

Reporting protections: if you breached a work-related visa condition (other than a no-work condition) in connection with being exploited, and Fair Work or another participating agency certifies the exploitation and is helping you, your visa is protected from cancellation for that breach, as long as you promise to follow your conditions and there is no other reason to cancel (such as fraud, character or security). If you need to stay longer to resolve the case, you may be able to get a Workplace Justice visa.

Step 1: gather your evidence

• Your dates and hours. Fair Work's free Record my Hours app logs them for you.
• Payslips. Employers must give you one within 1 working day of pay day. Not getting them is a breach in itself.
• Bank statements showing what was, or was not, paid.
• Your contract, roster or piece rate agreement.
• Texts, emails and chat messages with your employer or supervisor.
• The employer's legal business name and ABN.

Step 2: check what you should have been paid

Use the Fair Work Pay Calculator to find your award and the minimum rate for your hours. Farm work is usually under the Horticulture Award, where pieceworkers are guaranteed at least the minimum hourly rate. Compare those rates with what actually landed in your account for the hours you worked: the gap is your underpayment.

Step 3: raise it with your employer

Fair Work suggests talking to your employer first and showing them what you found; honest mistakes are common. Put it in writing (a text or email) so you have a record, and bring a support person if that helps.

Step 4: ask Fair Work for help, for free

• Call the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94. Free interpreters: call 13 14 50 and ask for Fair Work.
• Send an anonymous tip-off online, in English or another language, if you do not want to be named.
• Fair Work can investigate and enforce the law. Since 1 January 2025, intentionally underpaying wages can be a criminal offence.
• Check whether Fair Work is already holding unpaid wages for you with its search for unpaid wages tool.

Time limits

You can ask a court to deal with an underpayment through the small claims process for claims up to $100,000. The application must be made within 6 years of the underpayment. Do not wait: evidence and employers are much easier to find while it is fresh.

Paid on an ABN? Sham contracting red flags

Fair Work says calling a worker a contractor and making them get an ABN does not make them a contractor. Sham contracting is when an employer presents a job as contracting to avoid paying entitlements like super, leave and workers compensation. If any of these apply, ask Fair Work whether you are really an employee:

• You were told to get an ABN before you could start picking or packing.
• The farm or contractor sets your hours, tells you how to do the work and supplies the tools.
• You only work for that one business.
• No super is paid and there are no payslips.

Before you leave Australia

Contact Fair Work, and lodge any claim, before you fly out. It is far easier to answer questions, find documents and deal with the employer while you are still here. Keep your Australian bank account open until the money lands, and keep copies of everything in your Matey vault. Unpaid work also does not count as specified work, so getting paid protects your 88 days too.