Weird payment received

I received a huge pay from work yesterday, and I know I'm not getting any bonus. So I called HR and she found a copy of my pay slip for me, which said I got my regular leave payment from work, plus just under $4,500 government leave entitlement (net).

I'm confused about why that amount has been paid now, because I'm getting 24 weeks leave pay from work, which began 01/10, so hasn't finished yet. I opted for the 18 weeks government leave pay to start after that, so why would I get it now? And why that lump sum? It's not the total, is that a months worth or something?

I have no idea what this is about, can't get through to centrelink and want a bit of an idea what it could be before any of it gets spent.

Your work have messed up. Fao pay employers on advance for your scheduled ppl start date. Generally six weeks payment at a time. Your employer has paid you six weeks worth of ppl at once instead of paying it over the intended six weeks

Ah that makes sense, thanks! Will give them a call about it after Christmas because I suspect I've paid a lot of tax on this one.

i dunno - if it's six weeks of pay (not sure of basic wage but it's something between 600 and 700 a week) it sounds like you've paid next to no tax. unless they've paid a larger portion (it may be more than six weeks worth of payment)
definitely check!

The total net payment was just under $6k, and the portion from work is $1,322. On the phone she said the tax was just over $3k. I can't work out if that's normal oe not though lol.

if you were taxed 3k on a 6k payment, you've been quite a bit over taxed - and if you got 4.5k from the government it sounds more like they've paid 7-8 weeks of ppl (i just checked - it's just over 620 per week). it's possible that the payment cycles haven't married up so your employer has been paid a larger amount (i've seen it range from 6 up to 18 weeks paid in an installment - where 8 weeks has been paid for first installment, the next is 6 and the final is 4 - it's very much paid to match the pay cycle your employer dictates)

My employer did the same to me, I told them I wanted ti fortnightly but they said they pay it as soon as they receive it from FAO so I just had chunks of money, then none, then chunks etc, was very annoying but they refused to do anything about it!