Unpaid Employee Entitlements:

Sometimes after your job or position comes to an end, through redundancy or termination, there may be certain employee entitlements that you have accrued over the period of your employment which remain unpaid. Your employer is legally and contractually required to pay you your employee entitlements that may include unpaid wages, unpaid annual leave, unpaid long service leave, unpaid pay in lieu of notice (up to five weeks) and unpaid redundancy pay (up to four weeks for each year of service). Obtaining proper legal advice from a Debt Recovery and Insurance Lawyer may be greatly beneficial if you are in involved in recovering unpaid Employee entitlements.

If your position has been terminated because your employer is in liquidation or bankruptcy, then there may be government assistance that is available to you. Employees who are owed certain employee entitlements after losing their job because their employer went bankrupt or into liquidation, may be able to get financial help from the Australian Government. This help is available through the General Employee Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme (GEERS) or the Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG). GEERS is a safety net scheme of last resort, with assistance available for unpaid wages, leave entitlements, pay in lieu and redundancy pay. To be eligible for GEERS assistance, former employees must meet all of the eligibility requirements outlined in the regulations. If a Receiver and Manager or Administrator has been appointed to your employer (or a Debt Agreement Administrator has been appointed in the case of an individual or partnership employer), you may contact the appointed insolvency practitioner for information about the future direction of the employer.  It may be necessary to do a liquidation check on ASIC Connect or search the insolvency notices to see if a company is in liquidation or external administration. Professional legal advice from a Debt Recovery and Insurance Lawyer may be of great assistance in this regard.

Furthermore, if your employee does not pay your entitlements as they are contractually and legally required to do, you can seek redress from the Fair Work Ombudsman or the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). If your employer is still operating a business, the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) may be able to provide information about the employer’s obligations to meet unpaid employee entitlements.

Alternatively, you can seek assistance from legal professionals who may be able to correspond with and negotiate, if necessary, with your employer to ensure that they comply with their obligations to pay your employee entitlements.  It may be necessary to commence proceedings against your employer, particularly if further compensation or damages is sought for the conduct of your former employer if it is arguably oppressive, unconscionable or in bad faith. Profession legal advice from a skilled Debt Recovery and Insurance Lawyer may be advantageous to ensure that any unpaid Employee entitlements are appropriately addressed.

If you would like further information or wish to discuss your Unpaid Employee Entitlements matter with us please do not hesitate to contact us by telephone on (02) 9233 4048 or by email to info@navado.com.au.

This webpage (and any material or wording appearing on this webpage) is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute any Legal Advice. It does not take into account your objectives, your instructions or all of the relevant facts and/or circumstances. Navado accepts no responsibility to any person who relies on the information provided on this website. We further refer you to our Disclaimer.