{"id":"F2015L02111","name":"Fair Work (Unclaimed Monies Interest Calculations) Instrument 2015","slug":"fair-work-unclaimed-monies-interest-calculations-instrument-2015","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":438521,"registerId":"F2015L02111-fast-fetch-1775954912128","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Fair Work (Unclaimed Monies Interest Calculations) Instrument 2015","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n![](image.001.jpeg)\n\n \n\nFair Work (Unclaimed Monies Interest Calculations) Instrument 2015\n\nI, Michaelia Cash, Minister for Employment, make the following instrument.\n\nDated  18 December  2015\n\nMichaelia Cash\n\nMinister for Employment\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nContents\n\n1 Name\n\n2 Commencement\n\n3 Authority\n\n4 Purpose\n\n5 Definitions\n\n6 Calculation of interest\n\n7 Interest period for an unclaimed amount\n\n8 Interest payable for a financial year\n\n \n\n1  Name\n\n  This is the Fair Work (Unclaimed Monies Interest Calculations) Instrument 2015.\n\n2  Commencement\n\n (1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.\n\n \n\n- Commencement information\n- Column 1 Column 2 Column 3\n- Provisions Commencement Date/Details\n- 1. The whole of this instrument The later of:(a) the day after this instrument is registered; and(b) the day Part 10 of Schedule 1 to the Fair Work Amendment Act 2015 commences\n\n\nNote:  This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.\n\n (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.\n\n3  Authority\n\n  This instrument is made under subsection 559(3B) of the Fair Work Act 2009.\n\n4  Purpose\n\n  This instrument sets out how to work out the amount of interest (if any) that the Fair Work Ombudsman, on behalf of the Commonwealth, must pay to a person under subsection 559(3A) of the Act.\n\nNote: Interest is payable to a person under subsection 559(3A) of the Act if:\n\n(a) the person is paid an amount under subsection 559(3) of the Act at a particular time; and\n\n(b) the amount is at least $100; and\n\n(c) the amount is attributable to an amount that was paid to the Commonwealth under subsection 559(1) of the Act more than 6 months before that time.\n\n5  Definitions\n\n  In this instrument:\n\nAct means the Fair Work Act 2009.\n\nindex number, in relation to a quarter, means the All Groups Consumer Price Index number that is the weighted average of the 8 capital cities and is published by the Australian Statistician in respect of that quarter.\n\ninterest period: see section ^7.\n\nunclaimed amount means an amount that:\n\n (a) is paid to the Commonwealth under subsection 559(1) of the Act; and\n\n (b) the Fair Work Ombudsman subsequently authorises to be paid to a person under subsection 559(3) of that Act.\n\n6  Calculation of interest\n\n  The amount of interest (if any) that must be paid in respect of an unclaimed amount is to be worked out as follows:\n\n (a) identify the interest period for the unclaimed amount (see section ^7);\n\n (b) add together the amount of interest payable in respect of the unclaimed amount for each financial year in which the interest period for the unclaimed amount falls (see section ^8).\n\n7  Interest period for an unclaimed amount\n\n  The interest period for an unclaimed amount is the period that:\n\n (a) starts on the day the unclaimed amount was paid to the Commonwealth under subsection 559(1) of the Act; and\n\n (b) ends on the 14th day after the day the Fair Work Ombudsman authorises the unclaimed amount to be paid to a person under subsection 559(3) of that Act.\n\n8  Interest payable for a financial year\n\n (1) The amount of interest payable in respect of an unclaimed amount for a financial year is the amount worked out by using the following formula and rounding the result to the nearest cent:\n\n![](image.002.png)\n\nwhere:\n\namount means the unclaimed amount plus the amount of any interest worked out under this section for each earlier financial year in which the interest period for the unclaimed amount falls.\n\ndays interest payable means the number of days in the interest period for the unclaimed amount that fall in the financial year.\n\ndays in the financial year means the number of days in the financial year.\n\ninterest rate means:\n\n (a) the percentage change in the index numbers for the 2 March quarters most recently published before the first day of the financial year (rounded up to 4 decimal places); or\n\n (b) if that percentage change is equal to or less than 0%—0%.\n\n (2) In working out the interest rate:\n\n (a) use only the index numbers published in terms of the most recently published index reference period for the Consumer Price Index; and\n\n (b) disregard index numbers published in substitution for previously published index numbers (except where the substituted numbers are published to take account of changes in the index reference period).\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The instrument remains tightly focused on its original purpose: calculating interest on unclaimed monies. It implements the specific requirement in section 559(3B) of the Fair Work Act 2009 without expanding beyond that mandate."},"complexity_factors":["Short instrument with only 8 sections and straightforward structure","Only 3 defined terms in section 5 (Act, index number, unclaimed amount)","Single mathematical formula in section 8 with clearly defined variables","Limited cross-referencing — only refers back to the Fair Work Act 2009 for substantive provisions","Some technical complexity in CPI calculation methodology (index reference periods, substituted numbers) but contained in subsection 8(2)","No nested exceptions or conditional chains beyond the basic 'if CPI ≤ 0 then 0%' rule"],"plain_english_summary":"This instrument sets rules for interest the Fair Work Ombudsman must pay when unclaimed wages held by the Commonwealth for more than six months are finally returned to workers (payments of at least $100). Interest runs from when the money was paid to the Commonwealth until 14 days after the Ombudsman approves payout, is calculated using the year-on-year CPI change, and is floored at 0%, so payments keep pace with inflation but do not earn extra returns."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The instrument does not change who is eligible for payments under the Fair Work Act; it solely prescribes the mathematical method for calculating interest on unclaimed amounts, how to apportion it across financial years, and which CPI figures to use. The text contains no provision changing the scope of eligibility or the underlying substantive rules in the Act."},"complexity_factors":["Interest is apportioned by financial year and must be calculated pro rata by days in the year (s8(1): 'days interest payable' and 'days in the financial year').","The formula compounds prior years' interest because 'amount' includes interest worked out for earlier financial years (s8(1) definition of 'amount').","Interest rate is tied to CPI: percentage change in index numbers for the two March quarters most recently published before the financial year (s8(1) 'interest rate'), requiring use of published ABS CPI data.","Rules on which CPI numbers to use and when to disregard substituted numbers add technical detail (s8(2)).","Rounding to the nearest cent and treating non‑positive CPI changes as 0% introduce small numerical edge cases (s8(1)).","The interest period is defined by external events under the Fair Work Act (payment to Commonwealth under s559(1) and Ombudsman authorisation under s559(3)), so calculations depend on administrative timing (s7; see s4 note).","Eligibility and threshold rules sit outside this instrument (referenced in s4 note referring to s559(3A) of the Act), creating dependency on the primary Act for who receives interest."],"plain_english_summary":"This instrument prescribes how the Fair Work Ombudsman must calculate interest payable on ‘unclaimed amounts’ the Commonwealth later pays to a person. It affects people entitled to payments under the Fair Work Act and the Commonwealth’s finances: the Ombudsman determines the payment date that sets the interest period, and the Commonwealth pays interest calculated pro rata by financial year using the CPI percentage change, with compounding and rounding. (See ss4, 7, 8.)"},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/fair-work-unclaimed-monies-interest-calculations-instrument-2015","history":"/api/acts/fair-work-unclaimed-monies-interest-calculations-instrument-2015/history","analysis":"/api/acts/fair-work-unclaimed-monies-interest-calculations-instrument-2015/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/fair-work-unclaimed-monies-interest-calculations-instrument-2015/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/fair-work-unclaimed-monies-interest-calculations-instrument-2015/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/fair-work-unclaimed-monies-interest-calculations-instrument-2015/documents"}}