Free letter of demand for unpaid wages

What law is on your side when wages go unpaid?

Section 323 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) says an employer must pay an employee the amounts payable for their work in full, in money, and at least monthly. There is no discretion in it and no grace period written into the section. The letter this tool builds cites that obligation directly.

That matters because unpaid wages do not go to a normal debt-recovery process. Your escalation route is the Fair Work Ombudsman, which can investigate and prosecute at no cost to you, or proceedings in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia — not the small claims division a business would use to chase an invoice. The letter names both, because naming the specific route you will take is what makes a demand credible.

Time limits are shorter than most people expect: an underpayment claim under the Fair Work Act generally has to be brought within six years of when the amount fell due, and unfair dismissal is 21 days. If your wages have been unpaid for years, check where you stand before you spend more time on it.

Do you need a lawyer to send one?

Anyone can write to someone who owes them money, anywhere in Australia. Chasing a debt owed to you is acting on your own behalf, and that needs no licence.

Who signs it still matters. A demand from the person who has already asked three times reads like the fourth ask. That is the reason a paid option exists, not a legal requirement.

When is this the wrong move?

• You are a contractor, not an employee. The fair work act protections in this letter do not apply the same way. if you invoiced for the work, use the unpaid invoices version instead.
• Your employer has gone into liquidation. Wages get priority treatment in an insolvency and the fair entitlements guarantee may cover you. contact the liquidator, not the employer.
• You want the job back. A demand for money is a different conversation to a dismissal dispute, and it has a 21-day clock on it.
• The debt is outside the limitation period. Most Australian contract debts stop being enforceable after six years. Check the limitation period first.
• They are already in liquidation, administration or bankruptcy. A demand does nothing once an insolvency practitioner is appointed.

And one about us rather than you: we can only send letters on your behalf where the debtor is in NSW, Victoria, Queensland or the ACT. Doing it for someone else in WA, SA, Tasmania or the NT needs a licence we do not hold. The free letter above works in all eight.

Should you send it yourself, or have us send it?

A letter you send yourself works in a small number of cases — usually where the other side simply forgot and one firm reminder is enough.

For most debts it is not enough. If you have already asked and been ignored, another message from you changes nothing. What changes things is the debt leaving your hands: a demand on our letterhead, written and approved by a NSW solicitor, delivered and tracked, followed up on a schedule, and handed to a partner law firm on day 14 if it is still unpaid.

Use the free letter to put it in writing. If that does not work, you need more than a letter.

What other letters can you build here?

Every one of these is the same tool, set up for a different debt. All free, all downloadable as Word or PDF.

• Unpaid invoices — the general business version, and the place to start if none of the others fit
• Rent arrears — does a rent demand go to a court or a tribunal
• Strata levies — why does this letter give 30 days when the others give 7
• Unpaid fees — does your engagement letter change what you can demand
• Money you lent — can you recover a loan with nothing in writing