How to make a complaint
You can make a complaint to the Fair Work Ombudsman if you're subject to Commonwealth workplace laws. .
This includes employees who are:
- employed by a constitutional corporation (these are corporations that are trading or financial, usually Pty Ltd or Ltd companies)
- employed in the ACT, NT, or VIC
- employed by the Commonwealth or a Commonwealth authority
- a waterside employee, maritime employee or flight crew officer employed in connection with interstate or overseas trade or commerce
- employed by sole traders, partnerships, other unincorporated entities and non-trading corporations in NSW, QLD, TAS or SA (from 1 January 2010).
You are able to make a complaint if:
- you believe you're not getting the correct wages, conditions or workplace rights
- you want a Fair Work Inspector to investigate your situation.
The Fair Work Ombudsman can look into any matter related to workplace discrimination that happened on or after 1 July 2009 based on:
- race
- colour
- sex
- sexual preference
- age
- physical or mental disability
- marital status
- family or carer responsibilities
- pregnancy
- religion
- political opinion
- national extraction or social origin.
Time limit on complaints
While we may look into a workplace complaint that happened more than 6 years ago, we can't take the person to court or enforce the resolution of your complaint.
We can only look into and act on workplace discrimination complaints that happened after 1 July 2009. For employers and employees that were previously covered by the state system until 1 January 2010, we can only look into complaints that occurred after this date.
Before you make a complaint
- Step 1: Check your facts. Contact the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 to find out your pay, conditions and workplace rights.
- Step 2: Talk to your employer. This might resolve the problem. If you've done this without success, try putting your concerns in a letter.
Download the sample letter:
- Step 3: If you can't approach your employer, or you've tried and it hasn't worked, make a workplace complaint to us.
Note: It's against the law for employers to threaten to dismiss employees for making a workplace complaint to us.
Has this happened? Contact the Fair Work Infoline immediately on 13 13 94.
Lodging your complaint
This involves the following.
What we do
We assign a Fair Work Inspector to your workplace complaint and write to you confirming we have your complaint.
In most cases, the Fair Work Inspector will write to you and your employer giving details of your workplace complaint. Generally, you and your employer will have 14 days to resolve the matter.
At this stage, the Fair Work Inspector won't have made a decision on the facts of the matter.
For complaints about pay and conditions, the Fair Work Inspector will generally start a full investigation 14 days after receiving your complaint (if you and your employer can't resolve the matter in that time).
Investigations begin as soon as we receive the complaint in cases of:
- discrimination
- industrial action
- freedom of association
- other complex matters.
In all cases, the Fair Work Inspector may visit the workplace to get more information and relevant records or documents.
Note: From the commencement of the national workplace relations system on 1 January 2010, the Fair Work Ombudsman works in partnership with its state government counterparts in NSW, QLD, SA and TAS to effectively manage the investigation into your complaint. This means that, in those states, if your complaint is about pay and conditions, it will be investigated by a Fair Work Inspector who works for either the Fair Work Ombudsman or a partnering state government agency.
Need help?
Contact the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94 between 8.00am - 6.00pm, Monday to Friday for the cost of a local call.
Language help
Contact the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) on
13 14 50 for free help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Hearing & speech impairment
Call through the National Relay Service (NRS):
- For TTY: 13 36 77. Ask for the Fair Work Infoline 13 13 94.
- Speak & Listen: 1300 555 727.
Ask for the Fair Work Infoline 13 13 94.