The WA pay floor
The Minimum Conditions of Employment Act 1993 (WA) binds every WA state-system employer. It can't be displaced by an award, agreement or contract: a less favourable term has no effect, and you can't waive a minimum condition.
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| Minimum | WA state-system figure |
|---|---|
| State Minimum Wage (adult 21 or over, not an apprentice) | $998.30 a week from the first pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026 — $26.27 an hour, as published by the WA Government |
| Casual loading | 25% (it was 20% before 31 January 2025) — $32.84 an hour for an adult casual from 1 July 2026 |
| Junior rates | A percentage of the adult rate: 90% at 20, down to 40% under 16 |
| Paid annual leave (not casuals) | 4 weeks' ordinary hours a year, up to 152 hours |
| Paid personal leave (not casuals) | 2 weeks' ordinary hours a year, up to 76 hours |
| Paid bereavement leave | Up to 2 days for each death, including for casuals |
| Unpaid family and domestic violence leave | 5 days a year (10 days' paid leave also comes from the Fair Work Act) |
| Public holidays | 11 in WA |
| Long service leave | 8⅔ weeks after 10 years' continuous employment; pro rata if employment ends after 7 years, unless you're dismissed for serious misconduct |
WA awards and industrial agreements set higher rates and conditions in many industries, and the State Wage order adjusts WA award rates each year. WA private sector and local government awards that had a casual loading below 25% moved to 25% from 26 April 2025.
Redundancy pay comes from the Termination, Change and Redundancy General Order ([2005] WAIRC 01715), made by the WA Industrial Relations Commission. If your employer has 15 or more employees (casuals and part-timers count) and makes you redundant, it must pay you severance on top of your notice: 4 weeks' pay after 1 year's service, rising to 16 weeks at 9 years, and 12 weeks at 10 years or more. Casuals, apprentices, trainees, employees on probation or a fixed term, and employees with less than a year's service aren't covered. A WA award, agreement or your contract can give you more. Unpaid severance is claimed in the Industrial Magistrates Court, within 6 years, like other unpaid entitlements.
One gap to know. There's no right to convert from casual to permanent. Notice of termination comes from the Fair Work Act's scale (1 to 4 weeks by service), which applies to WA state-system employees through s 759.
Pay slips and records
- A pay slip within 1 working day after you're paid, showing the gross and net amounts, the ordinary rate and hours for hourly employees, any loadings, penalties, allowances or bonuses, deductions, and super contributions.
- Records kept for 7 years, including start and finish times, breaks, pay, deductions, leave and super. Annual and long service leave records must be kept during your employment and for 7 years after it ends.
- You can ask to see them in writing. The employer must produce them by the end of the next pay period or the 7th day after your request. The right continues after you've left.
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If the employer didn't keep the records or give pay slips, the burden shifts: in a court claim it has to disprove what you say about the matter the records should have shown, unless it has a reasonable excuse. A written records request before you file is worth making — a refusal is itself a contravention, and it strengthens your position on hours and pay.
Two ways to get it back
1. Wageline — free
Wageline (1300 655 266) is run by Private Sector Labour Relations, part of the WA Government. It gives free advice on WA award rates, minimum conditions and long service leave, and you can complain to it instead of going to court. Its industrial inspectors can investigate, require records, accept a written undertaking from the employer, or issue a compliance notice requiring the employer to work out and pay what's owed. The Fair Work Ombudsman doesn't handle state-system pay and conditions.
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2. The Industrial Magistrates Court
The Industrial Magistrates Court has exclusive jurisdiction to enforce awards, industrial agreements, orders, the minimum conditions and long service leave. You can apply yourself, or a union or inspector can.
- If it finds you were underpaid, it must order the employer to pay you — the order isn't discretionary.
- Back pay for up to 6 years before the claim is filed. If the employer refused to produce records to an inspector, it can reach back further.
- Interest at 6% a year from when the money became owed.
- A penalty on the employer — and the court can order all or part of it paid to you.
- Legal costs are ordered only if the employer's contravention was serious, or a party ran the case frivolously or vexatiously. Otherwise each side pays its own.
Small, clear claims often suit Wageline. The court suits a larger claim, a dispute about which award applies or what it means, a claim close to the 6-year limit, or one where you want a penalty paid to you.
Penalties and who is liable
| Maximum penalty, from 31 January 2025 | Ordinary contravention | Serious contravention |
|---|---|---|
| Company (body corporate) | $93,000 | $930,000 |
| Individual | $18,000 | $180,000 |
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A contravention is serious if it was done knowingly or recklessly. A person involved in the contravention — someone who aided it, induced it or was knowingly concerned in it, such as a director, manager or payroll provider who knew the essential facts — is treated as having contravened too, and can be penalised.
Whether the court can make an involved person, such as a director, repay the wages themselves is less clear. A bill before the WA Parliament would allow it, but as at September 2026 it is not law.
Traps
- Asking the WAIRC to interpret your award won't get you paid. An interpretation is only a declaration. Money owed under an award is recovered in the Industrial Magistrates Court.
- The 6 years runs from each underpayment. Older pay periods drop off month by month, so waiting costs money.
- Check the casual loading for the period. It was 20% before 31 January 2025 on the minimum wage, and private sector and local government awards with a lower loading moved to 25% from 26 April 2025.
- Check the rate for the date. The State Minimum Wage was $953.00 a week from 1 July 2025, until the first pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026.
Employer a trading company, so you're in the Fair Work system? The federal rules and the Fair Work Ombudsman apply — see underpayment. The Industrial Magistrates Court can also hear Fair Work Act wage claims, but it can't order anyone other than the employer to pay the money owed.