Letter of Demand for Unpaid Wages in Australia

Your employer has underpaid you, stopped paying you, or refused to pay out entitlements you are owed — wages, overtime, leave loading, redundancy, accrued annual leave, superannuation. You raised it. You were promised it would be sorted “in the next pay run”. It was not. You raised it again. The conversation cooled. Now you are facing a payslip that does not match what you are owed and an employer who is hoping you will not push.

Wage underpayment is one of the few areas of Australian commercial law where the deck is genuinely stacked in the worker’s favour. The Fair Work Act 2009, modern awards, enterprise agreements, and the National Employment Standards all create non-excludable entitlements. A Letter of Demand is the standard first step that signals you understand those rights and intend to enforce them.

What you may be owed

• Unpaid ordinary hours, overtime, weekend or public holiday loadings
• Annual leave, personal leave or long-service leave entitlements
• Notice in lieu, redundancy pay or accrued entitlements on termination
• Superannuation guarantee contributions (currently 12%)
• Allowances payable under the relevant modern award
• Interest and, in some cases, penalty amounts under the Fair Work Act

The legal step that gets attention

A Letter of Demand for unpaid wages identifies the employment relationship, the relevant industrial instrument (modern award, enterprise agreement, common-law contract), the specific entitlements unpaid, the amounts owed with calculations, and the legal basis under the Fair Work Act 2009 and the National Employment Standards. It sets a 14-day deadline and signals the next step — a complaint to the Fair Work Ombudsman, an unfair-dismissal or general protections claim at the Fair Work Commission, or proceedings in the Federal Circuit and Family Court.

What Claim Done delivers

• Employment particulars and the applicable industrial instrument identified
• Entitlements calculated line by line with supporting reference
• Citation of the Fair Work Act provisions breached
• Clear deadline and escalation path to FWO, FWC or Federal Circuit Court
• Drafted and sent as a PDF for a flat $49

Common employer pushbacks and why they fail

• “You agreed to a flat rate.” Flat-rate or annualised arrangements must satisfy the better-off-overall test; if they do not, the award rate applies regardless.
• “You were a contractor.” Sham contracting is a separate offence under the Fair Work Act; the substance of the relationship determines status, not the label.
• “It is a payroll glitch.” Glitches are fixable in days, not months. Sustained underpayment is not a glitch.
• “You signed off on the payslip.” Acknowledgment of a payslip is not waiver of an underpayment claim.

Next escalation if the demand is ignored

The Fair Work Ombudsman accepts complaints from individuals and can investigate, recover wages and prosecute serious cases. The Fair Work Commission handles unfair dismissal, general protections (adverse action) and bullying claims, with strict 21-day filing windows from termination. For pure wage recovery the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia hears Fair Work Act claims. A Final Demand ($49) is the short escalation between the Letter of Demand and any of these steps. The earlier the formal letter goes, the cleaner the eventual case file looks.

Related guides: how to check if you are underpaid and claim back pay, when wage theft is a crime, how much redundancy pay you get and annual leave paid out when your job ends.