Victorian Current Acts Victorian Current Acts(1) An outworker who is owed any money by an employer under relevant industrial legislation, or under any contract of employment, may take proceedings in the Industrial Division of the Magistrates' Court to recover the money owing. The debt must arise out of the employment relationship.
(2) The proceedings must be started within 6 years after the outworker's entitlement to the money arising.
(3) Before proceedings may be started under this section, the employer must be given a written demand for the money owed.
(4) If the Court is satisfied that the employer—
(a) had reasonable notice of the outworker's claim; and
(b) had no reasonable grounds on which to dispute the claim; and
(c) in the circumstances should have paid the claim without the need for proceedings being taken to establish the validity of the claim—
the Court may order the employer to pay interest to the outworker on top of any other amount to which the outworker is entitled.
(5) The interest must not be greater than the rate fixed under section 2 of the Penalty Interest Rates Act 1983 that applies at the time the Court makes the order.
(6) If a claim is made under this section by an outworker's personal representative, subsections (4) and (5) apply despite anything to the contrary in section 29 of the Administration and Probate Act 1958 .