Wages and entitlements

When you work for an employer, you are entitled to be paid for that work. That payment is referred to as wages. The wages you are entitled to will depend on the minimum wage, your contract of employment, your award or enterprise agreement. Your employer must pay you regularly.

In many cases, if you work more than standard hours, you are entitled to be paid extra, sometimes at an hourly rate greater than your normal hourly rate. This is called overtime.

If you work on weekends, public holidays or hours outside the normal work hours, you may be entitled to be paid at a greater hourly rate as well. These rates are called penalty rates.

You may also be entitled to allowances for meals, tools, clothing and working in extreme conditions. Generally, these entitlements are paid with your wages. 

You may be entitled to commissions or bonuses when you reach certain set targets in relation to your job. For example, you may receive a bonus for getting a set number of jobs done in a 12-month period. You may be entitled to a commission for every unit of your employer's product that you sell. Some employees who receive commissions are also entitled to a minimum wage.

Your entitlement to commissions or bonuses will usually depend on your contract of employment, award or enterprise agreement. These entitlements may be paid with your wages or at a specified time.

For more information, see Wages.

An employee may be entitled to some of the following types of leave:

• annual leave
• personal/carer's and compassionate leave
• family and domestic violence leave
• community service leave
• parental leave
• long service leave.

The national employment standards, an award, enterprise agreement, contract of employment and the employee's employment status will determine what leave they are entitled to.

For more information, see Leave.

Superannuation is money set aside for your retirement. Your employer is required by Commonwealth legislation to pay a compulsory superannuation contribution of 11.5% of your wages to the Australian Taxation Office. Your employer should pay superannuation to your superannuation fund at least once every three months.

For more information, see Superannuation.

From 26 August 2024, employees have a right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to emails or phone calls outside of their working hours unless the refusal is unreasonable.  

An employee’s refusal may be considered as unreasonable because of: 

• the reason for the contact 

• how the contact is made and how disruptive it is to the employee 

• how much they are paid for being available 

• their role in the business and level of responsibility 

• personal circumstances, including family or caring responsibilities.  

This change applies to all awards. The right to disconnect for small businesses will apply from 26 August 2025. 

The Fair Work Commission can deal with disputes about a right to disconnect. 

For more information, see Right to disconnect on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.  

If you are dismissed (sacked) you are generally entitled to be given notice before you have to stop working, unless you were dismissed because of serious misconduct. The minimum period of notice depends on how long you have worked for your employer. Your award, enterprise agreement or contract could entitle you to a greater period of notice.

 If you have been dismissed, you should get legal advice. Your dismissal may have been unfair or in breach of a general protection. For more information about unfair dismissal and general protections dismissal, see Termination of employment.

Not all employees are entitled to notice. For example, casual employees may not be entitled to notice. You should get legal advice if you have been dismissed and you are not sure how much notice you are entitled to.

You are entitled to an extra week's notice if you are over 45 years old and you have at least two years of continuous service with your employer.

What is payment in lieu of notice?

Instead of giving you the required period of notice, your employer can pay you an amount equal to your wages for the period of notice you are entitled to, and ask you to leave straight away. This is called a payment in lieu of notice. The amount owing is equal to the amount payable for the notice period that you are entitled to. 

If you resign you may also have to give notice. Your employment contract, award or enterprise agreement may set out the notice period. In some cases if you don't give enough notice your employer may be able to keep some of your final pay.

For more information, see Resignation - how much notice? on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

When should I receive my payment?

If your employer decides to pay you in lieu of notice, you will normally receive this payment with your final termination pay. 

You should be paid your full rate of pay for the hours you would have worked until the end of the notice period. Your full rate of pay includes any overtime, penalty rates, allowances, bonuses or commissions you would have normally earned over that period. Your employer can deduct amounts for tax.

If you are not paid or you haven't been paid the right amount, there are steps you can take to try and recover the money that you are entitled to. For more information, see What if my entitlements are not paid?

An employee's position is made redundant when their employer no longer needs a role to be performed, or no longer needs the same number of employees to perform certain tasks. If you are made redundant, you may be entitled to redundancy pay.

For more information, see Redundancy pay.