Compliance notices
New criminal underpayment laws start 1 January 2025
From 1 January 2025, intentionally underpaying an employee’s wages or entitlements can be a criminal offence. The Voluntary Small Business Wage Compliance Code is now available to help businesses prepare and protect themselves.
Learn more at Criminal prosecution.
A compliance notice is a notice issued by a Fair Work Inspector which requires an employer to fix a breach of an Australian workplace law.
On this page:
- What is a compliance notice
- What do you do when you get a compliance notice
- Failure to comply
- Tools and resources
- Related information
What is a compliance notice
Sometimes when an employer doesn't cooperate with a Fair Work Inspector to fix a breach, we can issue a compliance notice instead of starting legal proceedings.
A compliance notice must include information about:
- how the employer has breached a workplace law
- what the employer needs to do to fix the issue (for example, calculate and pay an amount of any underpayment to 1 or more employees and/or give evidence to show the issue has been fixed)
- the time the employer has to fix the issue (for example, that payment is to be made within 14 days)
- how the employer can apply to have the notice reviewed by a court
- what happens if an employer doesn't comply with the notice.
What do you do when you get a compliance notice
If you get a compliance notice from us, it’s important to read it carefully and do what it tells you to do by the date required.
If you need help you can use our Compliance notices online course to get practical information, including step by step guidance to help you respond to a compliance notice.
Failure to comply
If an employer doesn't comply with a compliance notice and we take them to civil court, the employer can be ordered to comply with the notice (wholly or partly) and can be fined.
We can't start civil legal proceedings for breaches set out in the notice if an employer complies with the notice.
Compliance notices can only be given for breaches that happened after 1 July 2009.
Compliance notices can't be given for breaches that are the subject of a current enforceable undertaking.
Source reference: Fair Work Act 2009 s.545 and 716
Tools and resources
- Compliance and enforcement policy
- Frequently asked questions - compliance notices
- Compliance notices online course
