If you are owed money from an employer for a breach of contract, you may be able to claim the money owed through the Magistrates Court.
You don’t need a lawyer and can represent yourself.
A judge or court registrar will make a legally binding decision based on the evidence provided (called a ‘court order’).
Your claim must meet these criteria:
- you must be an employee
- your wages at the time of the breach must be less than the high income threshold
- it must arise out of a breach of contract of employment.
For employees: how to make a claim
Follow these steps:
- Complete the claim form
Fill in and sign:
- Gather evidence
Collect evidence to support your claim, such as
- emails
- pay slips
- pay rate calculations
- diary records of hours worked
- rosters or timesheets.
- Lodge your claim
Submit your claim and evidence to your local Magistrates Court registry in person or by post. Include:
- the original
- two copies (for yourself and the defendant).
- Serve court papers
After lodging, give (‘serve’) your employer the court-stamped (‘sealed’) documents.
This notifies them of the claim and court date, allowing them time to respond.
Conciliation process
The court may require you and your employer to participate in conciliation to resolve the claim without a court hearing.
What to expect at a court hearing
If your claim proceeds to a court hearing:
- you and your employer will present your cases to a magistrate or registrar
- the hearing is less formal than a trial, but you must explain your claim and provide evidence
- the magistrate or registrar will review the evidence, ask questions if needed, and make a legally binding decision (a court order).
If the judgment is in your favour
If the court rules in your favour, and the employer does not pay you, you may then need to take other steps, such as an enforcement process, to recover the debt from your employer.
Enforcement processes are set out here: (link to enforcement webpage).
If they don’t pay voluntarily, you can apply for an:
- enforcement hearing —a court process to determine a debtor’s financial situation and ability to pay the debt
- enforcement warrant —a legal order that allows you to recover the debt through actions such as seizing business property or other assets.
If your employer does not dispute your claim
If your employer doesn’t defend the claim, the court may issue a judgment in your favour for the amount claimed without further notice to your employer.
For employers: If you wish to dispute a claim
If you’re an employer and conciliation fails and you want to dispute the claim, you must:
- Complete the defence form
Fill in and sign:
Include the facts you’re relying on in your defence.
- Lodge your defence
Submit your defence to the same court registry where the employee filed their claim (this information is in the claim documents you received).
Lodge in person or by post within 28 days of the conciliator filing a certificate stating the matter is unresolved. Include:
- the original
- two copies (for yourself and the employee).
If the claim proceeded to conciliation and it did not resolve at the conciliation, you need to lodge your defence, in person or by post (or via the QCase portal, within 28 days of the conciliator filing a certificate stating the employment claim was not able to be resolved.
- Serve court papers
After lodging, serve the employee the sealed defence documents.
This allows them to review your arguments and prepare their response.
More information
For advice, contact a lawyer or your union .
You can also visit the Fair Work Ombudsman website .
Relevant legislation
The employment claim process is set out in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cwlth) , Chapter 4, Part 1.
