Work & Employment

Bullying at work is not part of the job.

Your employer has a legal duty to provide a safe workplace — including protection from bullying and harassment.

Workplace bullying is repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed at a worker that creates a risk to their health and safety.

This can include put-downs, being singled out, threats, unfair workloads, or being excluded.

A one-off incident is not legally considered bullying, but may still be misconduct or harassment.

My options

• Report it internally: Tell a manager or HR — your employer must take action
• Fair Work Commission: If the bullying is ongoing, you can apply for a stop bullying order — The Fair Work Commission must start dealing with the application within 14 days | 🌐 fwc.gov.au
• WorkSafe Victoria: If bullying is creating a serious risk to your health or safety, WorkSafe can investigate | 🌐 worksafe.vic.gov.au

Get advice early – the longer bullying continues, the harder it can be to deal with.

Sexual harassment is against the law.

It is any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, including comments, messages, touching, or requests that a reasonable person would find offensive, humiliating, or intimidating.

It can happen once and still be unlawful.

What to know

• Your employer must prevent it: Employers now have a positive legal duty to take reasonable steps to eliminate sexual harassment before it happens — not just respond after the fact
• You can make a complaint internally to your employer, or externally to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) | 🌐 humanrights.vic.gov.au or the Australian Human Rights Commission | 🌐  humanrights.gov.au
• VLA specialist service: Victoria Legal Aid has a free specialist sexual harassment and discrimination legal service | 🌐 legalaid.vic.gov.au/specialist

You do not need to prove it happened repeatedly. A single incident is enough.

Get advice before making a formal complaint — there are time limits that apply depending on which pathway you use.

All employees in Australia are entitled to at least the minimum wage.

Most jobs are covered by a modern award that sets the minimum pay rate, penalty rates for weekends and public holidays, and other conditions for that industry.

Minimum Wage

• Your employer cannot pay you less than the legal minimum
• Rates are set by the Fair Work Commission and updated each year | 🌐 fairwork.gov.au
• Check your correct rate here | 🌐 calculate.fairwork.gov.au/FindYourAward

Superannuation

• Over 18: All employees aged over 18 are entitled to superannuation regardless of how many hours they work
• Under 18: Employees aged under 18 years are only entitled to superannuation if they work more than 30 hours in a week

Payslips

• You must receive a payslip within one working day of being paid, every time
• It must show your pay rate, hours worked, tax withheld, and super paid
• Not receiving payslips is a legal breach by your employer

Wage theft

• Deliberately underpaying employees is a criminal offence in Victoria under the Wage Theft Act 2020 (Vic)
• If you think you are being underpaid, get advice

Unpaid trial work

• An employer generally cannot ask you to work a full trial shift without pay
• Short demonstrations of skills may be lawful in some circumstances, but working a full shift ‘on trial’ is usually wage theft

Whether you are casual or permanent changes your pay and entitlements.

Casual workers

• Get a higher hourly rate (casual loading – usually 25%) because it replaces paid sick leave, annual leave, and guaranteed hours
• Shifts can change or be cancelled

Permanent workers (full-time or part-time)

• Get paid sick leave, annual leave, and have more job security, but a lower base hourly rate

My employment type

• Your employment type must be clear from your contract and payslip
• If you are unsure what you are, ask or get advice

Casual conversion

If you have been working regular casual shifts for 6 months (12 months if it’s a small business) with the same employer, you may have the right to request conversion to permanent employment.

Sham contracting

If your employer calls you an ‘independent contractor’ but controls your work like an employee, this may be unlawful. Get advice if this applies to you.

Gig Work (Uber, DoorDash, Airtasker etc)

If you work through an app or digital platform, you may be a “regulated worker” under new federal laws that came into effect in 2024.

This means you may have rights to minimum pay, safety protections, and to challenge unfair deactivation from the platform, even if you are classified as an independent contractor rather than an employee.

These rights are new and not all platforms have updated their practices yet. If you are unsure of your rights, get advice.

For more information visit: JobWatch – Gig Workers Fact Sheet: GigWorkers-FactSheet.pdf

Unfair dismissal is when you are fired in a way that is harsh, unjust, or unreasonable.

You should be told the reason, given a chance to respond, and the decision should be fair.

21 Calendar Days – strict deadline

You must lodge an unfair dismissal application with the Fair Work Commission within 21 calendar days of being dismissed. Do not wait.

Visit the Fair Work Commission website | 🌐 fwc.gov.au to learn more about unfair dismissal or visit here to apply or lodge.

Minimum employment period

You must have worked for your employer for at least 6 months (or 12 months for small businesses with fewer than 15 employees) to access unfair dismissal protections.

Casual workers

Casual workers can access unfair dismissal if they have been employed on a regular and systematic basis and had a reasonable expectation of continuing employment.

General protections

Even if unfair dismissal does not apply, you may be protected if you were dismissed for an unlawful reason — such as exercising a workplace right, taking leave, or because of discrimination. Also a 21-day deadline.

Get advice immediately — the 21-day deadline is the same whether you know about it or not.

If you need urgent assistance or feel unsafe right now, call 000.

Legal advice: Do you think you may have a legal issue and would like advice? Free and confidential help is available.

Contact:

• Barwon Community Legal Service | 📞 1300 430 599 | 📱 Text 0487 182 273 | or click here to request an appointment online
• Victoria Legal Aid | 📞 1300 792 387 | 🌐 legalaid.vic.gov.au/contact-us | 💬 Webchat
• YouthLaw | 📞 (03) 9113 9500 | 🌐 youthlaw.asn.au | ✉️ info@youthlaw.asn.au | Free legal advice for under 25s

For more information about this topic:

• JobWatch | 📞 Barwon: 1800 331 617 or 📞 Melbourne: (03) 9662 1933 | 🌐 jobwatch.org.au
  Free confidential phone advice for all Victorian workers — specialist service that can help with any work issue

• The Young Workers Centre | 📞 1800 714 754 | 🌐 youngworkers.org.au
  Free legal advice and representation for workers under 30 — specialist service that can help with any work issue

• Fair Work Ombudsman | 📞 13 13 94 | 🌐 fairwork.gov.au
  Check your pay rates, entitlements and lodge complaints

• Fair Work Commission | 📞 1300 799 675  | 🌐 fwc.gov.au
  Lodge unfair dismissal and stop bullying applications

If you need to speak to someone urgently, please call:

• Lifeline (Free 24/7) | 📞 13 11 14 | 💬  Webchat | 📱 Text 0477 131 114
  Crisis support and suicide prevention

• Kids Helpline (Free 24/7) | 📞 1800 551 800 | 🌐 kidshelpline.com.au
  Counselling service for young people aged 5 to 25.

• 🌈 Rainbow Door (10-5pm every day) | 📞 1800 729 367 | 📱 Text 0480 017 246 | 🌐 rainbowdoor.org.au 
  Free helpline and specialist support service for LGBTIQA+ Victorians, their friends and families

• 🖤💛❤️ 13YARN (Free 24/7) | 📞 13 92 76 | 🌐 13yarn.org.au
  Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support line developed and run by community in partnership with Lifeline

Other helpful resources:

• Ask Izzy | 🌐 askizzy.org.au
  FREE directory to find local housing, food, and support services near you

• Quick Help Guide (BAT Force) | 🌐 batforce.org.au/quick-help-guide
  A practical guide connecting you to support for food, housing, mental health, family violence, financial stress and tenancy

• YouthNav (Youth Central) | 🌐 youthcentral.vic.gov.au/youthnav
  A life skills and information hub for young people aged 12 to 25 that helps build knowledge, confidence, and independence into adulthood

Check out the videos, fact sheets and resources below for more information or try our Legal Health Check Here!