Help keep work fair – how to report workplace exploitation
Report employers who are not following workplace laws to the
Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO). This includes:
- pay and wages
- leave and other entitlements
- discrimination.
Visit
Border Watch to report people who:
- take migrants’ passports
- use a migrant’s visa situation to threaten or force them to work
- force migrants to live in overcrowded and unsafe housing.
You do not need to give your name when you make a report.
Extra protections for temporary sponsored skilled workers
If you are a temporary sponsored skilled worker, your employer must meet their
sponsorship obligations. You can report your employer to
Border Watch if they:
- force you to work too many hours
- pay you less than the salary agreed when your visa was granted
- take money from your pay for sponsorship, recruitment, or migration agent costs
- make you do a different job from the one approved when your visa was granted.
It is unlawful in Australia to use someone’s immigration status to take advantage of them or to treat them badly at work.
If something feels wrong about the way you or someone you know is being treated at work, you can get help. You can contact the organisations on the
Help page.
Protecting yourself at work
Follow your visa conditions
Some visas limit the number of hours you can work or who can employ you. Breaking your visa work conditions to earn more money might seem like a good idea but it can make you more vulnerable to exploitation.
Check your visa conditions through the free myVEVO app or visit Visa Entitlement Verification Online
VEVO
Keep your documents safe
Make sure you keep your passport and other travel documents safe. Your employer can check your passport, but it is a crime for them to keep your passport as a condition of employment.
Check your pay, record your hours
The FWO’s website has helpful tools and resources, including a pay calculator that will help you check your pay.
You can access these tools and resources at FWO.
You can also quickly and easily store your work hours using their free Record my Hours app.
Record any bad treatment
If you are treated badly at work, talk to workmates – they might be receiving similar treatment. It is also helpful to use a notebook to record details of any unfair treatment and save any relevant emails or texts. This information can help show you have been exploited and/or mistreated by your employer if you ever decide to seek support. It can also be very useful if your employer is investigated.
Check penalised sponsors
If you are a sponsored migrant worker, or considering becoming a sponsored worker, you can check whether a sponsor has been penalised previously for not following their obligations to migrant workers. Go to the
register of sanctioned sponsors.
Types of migrant worker exploitation
It is against the law in Australia for your employer to:
- keep your passport
- threaten to cancel your visa
- threaten to report you to immigration authorities
- pressure you to work more hours than your visa allows
- threaten future visa applications
- force you to live in unsafe or crowded housing as part of your job
- sexually harass you
- underpay you
- ask you to repay sponsorship, nomination, and/or recruitment costs
- ask you for money in exchange for visa sponsorship.
Rules about your pay
All employees working in Australia are entitled to a minimum wage. This is the minimum amount you must be paid for the work that you do, even if you are paid in cash. If you need help, you can contact the
FWO.
Your employer must also give you a pay slip every time you get paid. There are rules about getting pay slips and what information they must contain. For more details, visit
Pay slips - Fair Work Ombudsman.
Most employees in Australia are entitled to superannuation payments (‘super’).
If you are eligible, your employer must pay the equivalent of at least 12% of your earnings into a super fund of your choice on your behalf – in addition to your wages.
Learn more about super for temporary residents at
Australian Taxation Office.
Getting help
Reporting workplace exploitation early means you can get the support you need as soon as possible.
If you are working in Australia and you are being exploited at work, you can ask for help from the
FWO on things like your pay, discrimination and leave and other entitlements.
You might also like to ask for help from any of the following:
- a union
- a community legal centre
- a lawyer.
For a list of organisations that can support you, go to the Help page.
To report unpaid super or a tax matter you can complete an ATO tip-off form. Or, you can phone the ATO tip-off hotline on 1800 060 062.
Employers cannot cancel your visa, even if you have broken your visa conditions.
Only decision-makers in the Department of Home Affairs, including the Australian Border Force (ABF), make decisions about your visa.
Learn how to make a report on the Help page.
If you want to report exploitation but are worried about your visa, read about reporting protections on the Help page.
Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme workers
Short-term PALM workers must be given at least 120 hours of work every 4 weeks. If your employer does not offer you these hours over the 4 weeks, they must pay your wages equal to 120 hours.
If you are being treated badly at work, or want to change employers because you have been exploited or lost your job unfairly, contact the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) PALM scheme support service line on (1800 51 51 3) or email (palm@dewr.gov.au).
If you have asked DEWR to change employers, your visa will not be cancelled for breach of a work-related condition. To read more about this, go to the Reporting protections section of the Help page.
