Get Help At Work
If you’re facing tough conditions, as a union member you’re supported by a community of workers, delegates, Health and Safety Reps and union officials.
Do you need help understanding or enforcing entitlements at your workplace?
Contact your UWU representative at work. If you don’t have a union rep at your workplace, common issues our members face at work are listed below. Contact UWU in your local state or territory if you need more help.
I am being underpaid
Underpayment – also known as wage theft – is when a boss doesn’t pay you what you’re owed. You can’t always rely on your boss to pay you properly, so it’s best to check. As union members, we work together to enforce our rights to fair pay.
Wage theft can occur in a variety of ways, including:
- Paying hourly rates below the modern award minimum rates, applicable enterprise agreement, or national minimum wage
- Misclassifying workers on a lesser pay rate
- Failing to pay overtime, penalty rates, allowances or other loadings
- Making unlawful cash deductions from wages
- Enforcing illegal cash-back schemes
- Not receiving superannuation, or the wrong amount of superannuation
- Not accruing leave entitlements like personal/carer’s leave or annual leave
- Receiving a flat rate for all hours worked that doesn’t properly compensate for entitlements that would otherwise apply
- Not being paid for attending training at the direction of your employer
- Working excessive hours on a salary
If you don’t understand your payslip, download our Payslip Checklist.
DID YOU KNOW?
What you can do about it
First, chat to trusted workmates. It’s likely they’re facing the same problems. Together, you and your co-workers can bring your concerns to your boss in a joint meeting or through a letter signed by all of you. Working together will make it more likely that your boss will act.
If you’re on your own, talk to your union delegate, if you have one, or contact us in your local state or territory.
What to Expect
We generally need to review relevant documents before we can give detailed advice. Contact our Member Rights Team via phone or email.
Gathering your documents before getting in touch will help us to support you. We will need:
- your name
- contact number
- a brief outline of the issue
- any deadlines
- the best time to reach you
- any digital documents you have gathered
By phone
Leave a message with the above details
By email
Please give above details and attach any relevant documents you already have.
Next steps
We will ask what you’ve already done to resolve the issue or prompt you to raise the issue with your employer as a first step. If you’re unsure how to do this, we can definitely help guide you through the process.
Additional Resources
My work is unsafe
Your right to workplace health and safety
All workers have a right to a safe workplace and to go home from work without injury. Employers have a legal duty to provide a safe work environment. Contact us if you see something that doesn’t look right, or think your employer is not managing health and safety risks adequately.
Health and Safety Reps
Health and Safety Representatives are elected in your workplace to promote safety at work. If you have a HSR at work, report your concerns to them. The United Workers’ Union supports workers to elect Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) and runs HSR training across Australia.
Additional Resources
I have been injured at work
Injuries at work can include
- physical injury
- mental injury
- illness
- disease
Your workplace should have a clear system for reporting injuries or other health and safety issues. This is best done through a Health & Safety Rep (HSR).
Workers’ compensation schemes
Workers are covered for loss of income and medical expenses when injured at work. in Each state, territory and federal regulatory bodies have separate workers’ compensation schemes. You can find them listed on the Fair Work website.
Coverage, eligibility criteria, entitlements and obligations may differ for each regulator, depending on your location.
What you need to do
- Seek first aid and see a doctor – you have a right to access your own doctor, not your employer’s preferred doctor.
- Tell your doctor that the incident happened at work and ask them for workers’ compensation forms.
- Report the incident – every workplace should have a clear system for reporting injuries or other health and safety issues.
- Follow up with your employer. Ask for workers’ compensation forms, if they haven’t already provided them to you.
Additional Resources
I have got a disciplinary meeting
Has your employer asked you to discuss allegations about your work performance or conduct?
This is called a disciplinary meeting.
Don’t attend alone
It’s important you don’t go to a disciplinary meeting alone; you are entitled to have a support person with you to support you, be a witness, take notes and assist in the discussion.
Support person
As a union member, your support person may be a delegate, organiser or Member Rights Team member. If you don’t have a delegate, contact us. Try and reschedule the meeting so that someone can attend with you.
What to Expect
Contact your support person as soon as possible
Ask your employer:
- what the meeting is about,
- when it is and
- who will be there.
Before the meeting, write down notes of what happened from your perspective.
Keep copies of any documents sent to you by your employer, including emails, letters and text messages and provide these to your support person before the meeting.
Additional Resources
- WORKSHOP – Disciplinary meetings
I have been dismissed
Dismissal is when you lose your job or get the sack.
As a United Workers’ Union member, you will be supported through this stressful time.
Unfair dismissal
If your dismissal was harsh, unjust or unreasonable, you may have a claim for unfair dismissal. It’s important to act quickly – depending on your job we can only make applications for unfair dismissal within a short timeframe, usually 21 days. There are many factors to check with a dismissal. Please contact us. We will work with you to determine if you may have been unfairly dismissed.
You should also get in touch if:
- You think you lost your job due to discrimination.
- You think you haven’t been paid everything you’re owed.
- You’re being threatened with losing your job.
- There are some reasons you can’t be sacked, including:
- Being in a union or participating in union activities outside working hours (or with the employer’s consent, during working hours).
- Making a complaint or inquiry or participating in proceedings against your employer.
What you will need
- A description of what happened and the events leading up to your dismissal. Include details of events or conversations and witnesses to them.
- Copies of any documents sent to you by your employer (emails, letters, text messages, prior warnings).
- Your notes from phone calls or meetings.
Remember to act quickly, we can only make applications within a short time frame, usually 21 days of the date you were dismissed.
Additional Resources
I have been made redundant
When an employer no longer requires the tasks in your role to be undertaken by anyone, or the business goes broke, your job can be made redundant.
Redundancy can be stressful, but United Workers’ Union negotiates with employers to support workers through this period.
Redundancies must be genuine
A redundancy is not genuine if:
- You weren’t consulted about the redundancy.
- You could have been redeployed into another role.
- Your employer hires somebody else to do the same job after making you redundant.
Redundancy not genuine? You have 21 days to claim
If your redundancy is not genuine, it’s important to act quickly – we can only make an application to the Fair Work Commission within 21 days of the date you were made redundant.
If you’re facing a genuine redundancy
You may be entitled to redundancy pay and notice of termination, plus accrued leave entitlements. Contact us and we can help you through the redundancy process.
What you will need
- A description of what happened and the events leading up to your redundancy.
- Copies of any documents sent to you by your employer (emails, letters and text messages).
- Your notes from phone calls or meetings and dates they occurred.
Additional Resources
My hours have changed
Unions fought for a 38-hour working week, but we know workplaces have changed and more workers now have casual jobs that they can’t rely on.
Reasonable rostering
Modern awards and enterprise agreements set out rules for how ordinary hours can be worked, including the minimum and maximum ordinary hours that can be worked each day, the times between which ordinary hours can be worked and rules for rostering of those hours.
Overtime
Ordinary hours differ depending on whether you’re a full-time, part-time or casual employees. When you’re asked to work outside of your workplace’s ordinary hours, or more than the ordinary hours allowed on a day or a shift, this can attract overtime rates.
Employers must consult around changes to hours
Employers are required to consult workers before they change your regular roster or ordinary hours of work, but we know that doesn’t always happen.
Consultation process can be enforced
Employers must:
- Consult workers before the change takes effect.
- Tell you how they propose to change your regular roster or ordinary hours of work, including when the change is proposed to begin.
- Invite you to provide your views about the proposed change.
- Consider workers’ views about the change in their decision-making process.If this hasn’t happened, then as union members we can come together to enforce these rights.
Different roles have different rules. Here’s how to find yours
Find your modern award or enterprise agreement on the Fair Work Commission website. Note: For public sector employees this might be on your state Industrial Relations Commission website.Your modern award or enterprise agreement should say how your employer must consult you about changes to your regular roster or ordinary hours of work.
What you can do
- Talk to your union delegate, if you have one, or contact us.
- Chat to trusted workmates to see if they are facing the same problem. It’s likely that you’re not the only one.
- Together, you can bring your concerns to your boss. This could be in a joint meeting or through a letter signed by all of you. No one has to do this alone. Working together will make it more likely that your boss will act.
- Contact us if you need support or advice enforcing your rights.
Additional Resources
- BLOG – Awards v agreements: How am I paid?
- WORKSHOP snippet – Find My Award
- BLOG – CASUAL WORKERS’ RIGHTS
- WORKSHOP – Reasonable Rosters (2026 – upcoming)
I am facing bullying
What is bullying or harassment?
If someone at work is saying or doing things to ridicule, humiliate, intimidate or degrade you, then that may be bullying or harassment.
Bullying happens when a person or a group of people repeatedly behave unreasonably towards someone and it creates a risk to health and safety.
Harassment does not need to be repeated and a single instance can form the basis of a complaint. For example, this is the case for sexual harassment.
Who should I report it to?
If you’re being bullied or harassed, you should talk to your delegate, your Health and Safety Representative (if you have one) or contact us. We can help you to enforce the rights and protections you are entitled to.
What should I do next?
- Make a note on each occasion unreasonable behaviour or harassment happens. Write down what happened, including how it made you feel, the time and date and who (if anyone) was present when it happened. Be as specific as you can.
- Talk to your delegate or Health and Safety Representative, so that they’re aware about what’s happening. Your delegate or Health and Safety Representative can help you to report the incident to your employer.
- Contact us for advice and support
- Seek assistance from your doctor if bullying or harassment effects your physical or mental health.
- Save copies of any documents you send to your employer or your employer sends to you, including emails, letters and text messages.
Additional Resources
UNITED WORKERS UNION
In the last year we've:
Of wages and entitlements for our members
For members – like helping to access leave entitlements, assisting with unfair dismissal and workcover claims
Ensuring that members have better wages and conditions