When something goes wrong at work
Unpaid wages, unsafe work, or accommodation tied to a job. What to do in the first hour, what to write down, what not to sign, and who takes the complaint.
Most of what follows is about the first few days, because that is when the evidence still exists and when people are most likely to accept something they should not.
In the first hour, if it is unsafe
Stop. You are not required to keep doing work you reasonably believe will hurt you, and work health and safety law in Australia applies to everybody on the site regardless of visa. Tell the supervisor, and write down the time you told them and what you said.
If somebody is hurt, get help first and worry about the paperwork afterwards.
Write it down the same day
Memory is the first thing to go and it is the thing you will be asked to rely on months later.
- Dates, start and finish times, and what you actually did
- What you picked or produced, if you are paid by piece
- What you were told, by whom, and when
- Photographs of the accommodation, the equipment, or the conditions
- Every payslip, and the bank credit that should match it
A note on your phone each evening is enough. Reconstructing it later is not.
Do not sign it today
You are rarely required to sign anything on the spot. A release, a new contract, a statement about what happened, an acknowledgement that you were paid correctly: all of those can wait until you have read them somewhere quiet, and a reasonable employer will say so.
If you do not read English comfortably, ask for time to have it read to you by somebody you choose.
Know who actually employs you
Check the paying entity on your payslip. Growers, labour hire companies and contractors all work on the same site, and the entity that pays you is the one a claim is made against. In Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT a labour hire provider needs a licence, and those registers are public.
Who takes the complaint
The Fair Work Ombudsman handles pay and conditions, including for temporary visa holders. Work health and safety is handled by the regulator in your state, and Safe Work Australia links to each of them. Neither of them is your employer and neither of them tells your employer who complained as a matter of course.
If accommodation is tied to the job
This is what makes people accept the unacceptable, and it is worth thinking about before you need to. Know what notice applies, know somewhere you could go for a week, and know that losing the job and losing the roof on the same afternoon is a situation to get advice about rather than to solve alone at short notice.
And on IkkoPind
Report the listing or the member. Reports are acted on within seven days, and a listing can be taken down while it is looked at.