Knowing how final pay works in Australia is the difference between accepting whatever lands in your account and checking it like the legal debt it is. Whether you resigned, were dismissed or made redundant, your last payslip is governed by the National Employment Standards — and it’s the payslip most likely to be wrong, because it’s the one payroll computes least often.

This guide walks through each component — final wages, untaken leave, notice, redundancy — who gets which one, and what to do when the number comes up short.

The Four Possible Components

1. Wages to your last day — every hour worked up to and including the final one, at your normal rates including any penalties and allowances you earned.

2. Untaken annual leave, paid out in full — the Fair Work Act (s 90(2)) requires payment of what you would have been paid had you taken the leave. Everyone gets this, no matter how the employment ended — even dismissal for misconduct doesn’t touch accrued annual leave.

3. Notice — worked or paid in lieu — if your employer ends the employment, they owe 1–4 weeks of notice by service (plus a week if you’re over 45 with 2+ years), either as time to keep working or as money on top of the final pay.

4. Redundancy pay — only when the job itself was made redundant: 4–16 weeks of base pay by years of service, subject to the 12-month minimum and the small-business exemption. Our calculator does this arithmetic.

Resignation vs Dismissal vs Redundancy

The way you leave decides which components apply. Resign and you get wages plus your leave payout — no redundancy pay, and it’s you who owes notice (whatever your award or contract sets), not the employer. Dismissed and the employer owes notice (or pay in lieu) on top, unless the dismissal was for serious misconduct, which strips notice but never the leave payout. Made redundant and all four components stack — which is why a redundancy final pay is often several months’ worth of money, and why it deserves line-by-line checking.

The Leave Payout — Where Payslips Go Wrong

The statute’s wording does real work: you’re paid what would have been payable had you taken the leave. If taking leave would have earned you annual leave loading under your award, the payout carries it too. The hours to check are on your last regular payslip — the accrued annual leave balance — multiplied by your current rate. Common shortfalls: stale balances that missed the final weeks of accrual, payouts computed at an old pay rate after a raise, and loading quietly dropped. Long service leave is separate, state-based, and can also be payable on termination depending on your state and years — that’s its own topic on this site.

Tax and Super on the Last Payslip

Final pays are taxed differently by component: ordinary wages normally, leave payouts and termination payments under their own withholding rules, and a genuine redundancy payment carries a tax-free component up to caps the ATO publishes each year. Don’t be alarmed if the withholding looks odd — it reconciles at your tax return like everything else. Super keeps accruing on your qualifying earnings to the end; whether specific termination components attract super depends on the ATO’s ordinary-time-earnings rules, so if the super line looks off, query it rather than assume.

If the Number Is Short

Start with payroll, in writing, itemising what you believe is missing — most shortfalls are process errors and get fixed. If that stalls, the Fair Work Ombudsman handles unpaid-entitlement complaints and has real teeth, and small claims courts handle underpayments without lawyers for modest amounts. Time matters less than documents: keep your payslips, contract, award name and a copy of your final payslip before you lose access to the payroll portal on your last day.

When should my final pay arrive?

The timing comes from your award or enterprise agreement — commonly on your last day or in the next regular pay run. If nothing has arrived by the pay run after your exit, treat it as overdue and chase it.

Does unused sick leave get paid out?

Generally no — accrued personal/carer’s leave is lost on termination unless your award or agreement explicitly says otherwise. It’s the one balance on your payslip that usually evaporates, which surprises people who’ve banked months of it.

I was dismissed for misconduct — what do I still get?

Wages to the last hour and your full annual leave payout. What you lose is notice (and there was no redundancy to begin with). An employer who withholds the leave payout as “punishment” is breaking the law, whatever the dismissal reason.

Related tools:

• Redundancy Pay Calculator
• Redundancy Pay & Notice Table
• Net Pay Calculator
• Superannuation

📋 Information verified — Official sources: Fair Work Act 2009 (ss 90, 117–123) · Fair Work Ombudsman — P.A.C.T.

⚠️ This is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice. KnowMyGovt is an independent service with no affiliation with or endorsement by the Fair Work Commission, the Fair Work Ombudsman or the Australian Government, and is not responsible for decisions you make based on it.