A wages underpayment claim refers to a claim to recover outstanding award entitlements, such as not being paid the correct hourly rate, employment classification, overtime, meal allowances, travel time and travel allowances and superannuation.

Connect Legal recently has secured a landmark judgement in the Federal Court of Australia, Putlands v Royans Wagga  in relation to individuals who were actually engaged as contractors but were in effect employees. Justice Bromwich of the Federal Court made various observations in relation to the multi indicia and control test and Connect Legal were able to secure the Putlands a landmark victory and recover outstanding award entitlements.

How Connect legal can help you in recovering your award and underpayment entitlements?

There are very few law firms Australia wide that have the experience of Connect Legal, its solicitors Mr. Jake Boghossian and Mr. Richard Aslanian in recovering award underpayment claims. They are able to interpret awards correctly, undertake the appropriate calculations and in more importantly prepare extensive court pleadings / advocate the matter in the Federal Circuit Court and/or the Chief Industrial Magistrates Court.

Your employer under the National Employment Standards and the applicable award is required to pay your outstanding pro rata annual leave and in some cases leave loading. Furthermore under the applicable state long service leave act, if after 5 years of employment you were made redundant and or terminated except for serious misconduct you are entitled to pro rata long service leave. If your employer has not attended to the payment of these statutory entitlements please contact Connect Legal for advice.

The answer depends on whether your employment is governed by a modern award, for example the Clerks Private Sector Award, The Commercial Sales Award and or the Manufacturing Award, then you have a legitimate right to claim a kilometre allowance. It is also essential you keep a log book of all sites travelled to and the kilometres driven.

The answer depends on the applicable award, what is the quantum of your fixed weekly rate and the wording of your employment contract. We have helped numerous clients in these circumstances at the Federal Circuit Court and recovered their award entitlements. Please contact Richard to further discuss your matter.

Connect Legal has helped numerous clients in recovering superannuation, but this is not a straight forward tasks. We need to review the applicable award and superannuation legislation and prepare a detailed court statement of claim. Please contact our office if you have outstanding superannuation.

f your employer cannot pay your entitlements because they have gone bankrupt or into liquidation, you may be able to recover some or all of your unpaid wages and entitlements by making a claim under the General Employee Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme (GEERS) or Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG).

Your employment is more than likely governed by the Commercial Travellers Award and yes you are required to be paid a kilometre allowance for all kms driven. Hopefully you have maintained a travel diary confirming your kms and locations travelled and we can them confirm if the $10,000.00 car allowance compensates above the award. If not then Connect Legal can help recover your award entitlements in the Federal Circuit Court and or the NSW Chief Industrial Court where we have substantial experience for over two decades.

There is a six year time limitation period to claim your entitlements such as annual leave, long service leave, notice and or redundancy. However if you have been underpaid in relation to your hourly rate, weekly allowances and overtime you need to act even quicker. Please ring our office for a no obligation complimentary discussion.

In February 2012 Connect Legal and Jake Boghossian secured a landmark judgement for three owner drivers in the Industrial Court of NSW regarding the General Carriers Contract Determination. Since its inception the award that applied to NSW owner drivers was unclear how it properly applied regarding the standby and kilometre rate and it was through the efforts of our office we secured a landmark judgement for our clients.

In August 2017, Connect Legal, its solicitors Mr. Richard Aslanian, Mr. Jake Boghossian and Mr. Nick Furlan (Barrister) secured a landmark judgment for Linda and Shane Putland who had been engaged as call centre operators and as so called independent contractors for over 10 years. Pursuant to these diligent efforts, Justice Bromwich of the Federal Court made significant orders in relation to breaches of the Fair Work Act 2009 and the Clerks Private Sector Award.

Our legal services will be undertaken on a No Win No Fee basis as has been the case from inception when we commenced defending employee rights in the late 90s. We will provide a written costs agreement outlining our No Win No Fee policy and will provide an estimate of the applicable fees.