Hi there. It sounds like you are in a difficult position. It is not clear whether you signed an employment contract and/or whether you were an employee under Australia’s national workplace relations system. For this reason, the following information is of a general nature only.

A person is generally entitled to be paid for all the hours they have worked in a job. This is true, even if the employee has been dismissed for serious misconduct or is still on ‘probation’. If your employer has failed to pay you for a period that you worked, you most likely have a legal claim against them for this money.

If you believe you were unfairly or unreasonably dismissed from your job, you may also have a claim against your employer for ‘unfair dismissal’. Unfair dismissal claims must be lodged with the Fair Work Commission (www.fwc.gov.au) within 21 days of your employment ending. You can find more information about unfair dismissal and other workplace rights on the Fair Work Ombudsman website atwww.fairwork.gov.au.