What you will need to complete your online claim form

• Your former employer's legal name, ABN or ACN.
• Evidence of your Australian citizenship or residency status at the time your employment ended. Please note your driver’s license is not acceptable evidence of your citizenship or residency status.
• Acceptable evidence of your former name (required only if you were known by another name and that name does not match your evidence of citizenship and residency).
• Your bank account details. If you are unable to provide details of an account in your name - please contact the FEG Hotline on 1300 135 040.
• Tax File Number for your Tax File Number Declaration. Otherwise your FEG assistance, if any, will be taxed at the top rate of tax.
• Your 'Login ID' and 'password' for accessing FEG Online Services. Your Login ID is the email address that you used to register for FEG Online Services.

Note: once registered, if you forget your password you can reset it at the initial FEG Online Services page.

Before you start completing this claim form, we recommend you read the following fact sheets available on the Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) website:

• Eligibility for FEG assistance
• How do I apply for FEG assistance
• General Information for claimants
• What assistance can FEG provide
• Protecting your information

What is FEG?

FEG is a scheme of last resort that provides financial assistance for unpaid employee entitlements in insolvency. FEG assistance is only available where there is no other source of funds to pay employment entitlements to eligible employees retrenched due to liquidation or bankruptcy of the employer.

FEG is administered by the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department (the department). Decisions about eligibility for FEG assistance are made in accordance with the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Act 2012 (FEG Act).

If eligible, you may be entitled to receive financial assistance for the following unpaid entitlements:

• wages – up to 13 weeks of unpaid wages
• annual leave
• long service leave
• payment in lieu of notice – maximum of five weeks
• redundancy – maximum of four weeks per full year of service.

Please note some entitlements are subject to maximum capping thresholds.

Further information, including the FEG Service Charter, is available on the Fair Entitlements Guarantee website. You can also contact the FEG Hotline on 1300 135 040 or the insolvency practitioner managing your former employer's affairs for more information about FEG.

TCF Contract Outworkers Scheme

Under the FEG Act, a special scheme has been established to provide assistance to contract outworkers in the textile, clothing and footwear industry (TCF contract outworkers). The normal FEG claim form should be used to make a claim.

Important!

1. The information and declaration you provide in this form must be correct to the best of your knowledge. Giving false or misleading information is a serious offence and may result in administrative, civil and/or criminal sanctions, including criminal prosecution.
2. This claim form is the form approved by the Secretary under section 14(1)(a) of the FEG Act. This claim form is current as at and must be used for FEG claims submitted on or after . Under section 14(1)(b) of the FEG Act, the Secretary requires that the claim form be accompanied by the documents that are described in this form as 'mandatory' (regarded as an effective claim). Assessment of your claim cannot commence until an effective claim is received. Information about any future changes to the claim form will be posted on the Fair Entitlements Guarantee website.
3. Your effective claim must be received before the end of 12 months after the end of your employment or the insolvency event date (whichever is later). The insolvency event date is generally the date a liquidator was appointed to the employer, or the date the employer becomes bankrupt. Claims made outside this timeframe will not be eligible. Further information about how we calculate the 12 month timeframe is available on the Fair Entitlements Guarantee website.
4. To be eligible you must have been an Australian citizen or the holder of a permanent or special category visa at the time your employment ended. For the purpose of proving you hold a permanent visa, you must provide a copy of a passport that is linked to an official online record of your permanent Australian visa, and which confirms that the visa was issued prior to the end of your employment; or a copy of the visa label from your passport (passport details must be visible); or a copy of the Visa Grant Notice that includes the details of your passport you used to apply for that visa.
5. Advice to claimants under the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Act 2012 in relation to delayed processing of foreign passport applications due to Covid-19 impacts:

   If you are an Australian permanent resident and do not have a foreign passport, visa label, or visa grant notice, and if the receipt of your new foreign passport has been delayed due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on agencies that are processing your passport application, as an interim measure, you must provide the following documents pursuant to section 14(1)(b) of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee Act 2012:

   1. Driver’s licence, or proof of age card, and a Medicare card,
   2. bank statements of the account(s) that your wages were paid into; and
   3. one or more documents that provide interim (non-conclusive) evidence that under the Migration Act 1958, you are the holder of a permanent visa, e.g. ship passenger arrival docket, incoming flight passenger card, or copy of parent(s) passport showing arrival in Australia.

   Please note: for a limited period of 12 months, from 26 May 2020 until 25 May 2021, your submission of the above listed documents will satisfy the mandatory document element of the requirements for submitting an effective claim. However the department’s verification of the eligibility of your claim cannot proceed until you have provided your new foreign passport, to which an official online record of your permanent Australian visa must be linked, and which confirms that your visa was issued prior to the end of your employment.

How to fill out and submit your online claim form

1. Complete this form in English.
2. If you speak a language other than English, call the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) on 13 14 50 for free help anytime.
3. If you speak an Indigenous language, call the Aboriginal Interpreter Service on 1800 334 944.
4. Read questions carefully and follow the instructions beside each question.
5. Complete only one online claim form per person.
6. To complete this form:
   1. enter your answers by typing them into the relevant fields in the form
   2. note that at any time the claim can be saved by clicking the 'Save and Continue' or 'Save and Exit' buttons
   3. submit the completed form by clicking 'Submit'. If any fields are not completed accurately, an error message will be displayed. You must correct each error before you can submit your claim form online
   4. note that you will be advised of the successful submission of your claim form.
7. Try to fill out all sections of the form, answering all questions and ticking all relevant boxes. All fields are mandatory except those clearly marked as optional. Leaving a question blank may delay the processing of your claim. Remember, your claim will not be effective unless you have provided all mandatory information requested on this form.
8. For assistance, call the FEG Hotline on 1300 135 040 or speak with the insolvency practitioner managing your former employer's affairs.
9. An email will be sent to you after you have successfully submitted your online claim form. We will also notify you in writing when we have received your online claim form and after we have assessed your claim.
10. If you would like to check the status of your claim, you can do so using FEG Online Services, or by calling the FEG Hotline on 1300 135 040.

I've submitted my completed claim form and all mandatory documents - what happens next?

1. The first thing we do is check that your claim is effective. Once we confirm that your claim is effective, we will send you an email.
2. The next thing we do is gather information to help us determine if you are eligible for assistance and, if so, the amount you are entitled to. This usually involves us liaising with the insolvency practitioner managing your former employer's business affairs, or we may request further information from you.
3. We will use this information to assess and calculate your outstanding employment entitlements, including any deductions that are required by law to be made, such as pay as you go (PAYG) tax or child support payments.
4. We will make a formal decision on whether you are eligible for FEG assistance and, if you are eligible, the amount of FEG assistance payable to you.
5. We aim to complete these steps within 16 weeks of receiving an effective claim.