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After court - wages and entitlements

Information about what happens after the court decides your claim for unpaid wages or entitlements.

Enforcing your agreement

If you and your employer agreed to settle your case, and your employer is not doing what they agreed, for example, pay you an amount of money, you may be able to enforce the agreement.

If you and your employer agreed to end the case, but you did not put the terms in a signed settlement agreement or consent orders, you may still be able to enforce the agreement. You should get legal advice before trying to enforce an unsigned or verbal settlement agreement.

For more information, see Enforcing an agreement to pay wages or entitlements. 

Enforcing court orders

If the court has made orders in your case and your employer has not followed them, there are things you can do to enforce them.

There are different types of enforcement options, including:

  • a writ / warrant for seizure and sale of property
  • order for possession of land or delivery of goods
  • charging order (e.g. charge over shares or money in a financial institution)
  • redirection / attachment / garnishee of debts or earnings / instalment order
  • enforcement hearing / oral examination / means of inquiry

To enforce a judgment of a Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, you need to:

  • apply to the Federal Court of Australia
  • take action through the Supreme Court of NSW.

For more information, Enforcing court orders to pay wages or entitlements.

Appealing the decision

If you are unhappy with the decision made by the court, you may be able to appeal to the Federal Court of Australia within 28 days.

You may be able to appeal if you think the court made a mistake about the law (called an 'error of law'), but not about what happened (called an 'error of fact'). You can't appeal just because you disagree with the decision.

Appealing a decision can be complicated. If you lose, the court may order you to pay the other side's legal costs in the appeal case. Before you appeal, you should get legal advice.

If you are outside the time to appeal, you should get legal advice before appealing. If you brought your case in a different court, there may be a different time limit to appeal the decision. 

For more information, see Appealing the decision of the court.

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