AU FAQs
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      NES Entitlements

      The national minimum wage and the NES make up the minimum entitlements for employees in Australia.

      An award, employment contract, enterprise agreement or any other registered agreement can't provide conditions that are less than the national minimum wage or the NES. 

      Maximum weekly hours

      • Full-time employee's maximum weekly hours: 38 hours
      • Part-time employee's maximum weekly hours: <38 hours

      Article page on Maximum Weekly Hours 

      Requests for flexible working arrangements

      Some employees who have worked for the same employer for at least 12 months can request flexible working arrangements, such as changes to:

      • Hours of work (e.g., start and finish times)
      • Patterns of work (e.g., split shifts or job sharing)
      • Locations of work (e.g., working from home)

      Article page on Requests for flexible working arrangements

      Offers and requests to convert from casual to permanent employment

      • Casual employees who have worked for their employer for 12 months need to be offered the option to convert to full-time or part-time employment by their employer. Certain eligibility requirements need to be met for this to occur.
      • Small business employers don’t have to offer to convert their casual employees to permanent, however eligible employees can request to convert on or after their 12-month anniversary.

       Article page on Offers and requests to convert from casual to permanent employment 

      Parental leave and related entitlements

      Parental leave is time off that can be taken when and employee has worked for the same employer for at least 12 months and:

      • the employee gives birth,
      • the employee's spouse or de facto partner gives birth, or
      • the employee adopts a child under the age of 16.

      In addition to unpaid parental leave, employees can receive parental leave pay from the Australian government and employer-funded paid parental leave.

       Article page on Parental leave and related entitlements 

      Annual Leave 

      • Full-time employees receive 4 weeks' paid leave per annum (pro-rata for part-time employees)
      • Annual leave accumulates from the first day of employment and continues to accumulate throughout the year, with any unused annual leave rolling over to the next year.
      • Unused annual leave will be paid out on termination.

      Article page on Annual leave

      Personal/carer's leave, compassionate leave and family and domestic violence leave

      • Personal/carer’s leave can be used by employees to take time off for personal illness, caring responsibilities and family emergencies.
      • Full-time employees receive 10 paid days per annum and part-time employees receive a pro-rata entitlement based on their ordinary hours of work.
      • Unused personal/carer’s leave is not paid out on termination, unless required by an award or enterprise agreement.
      • All employees have entitlement to 2 days of compassionate leave each time they meet the criteria for the entitlement.
      • All employees are entitled to 5 days unpaid family and domestic violence leave each year.

      Article page on Personal/carer's leave, compassionate leave and family and domestic violence leave 

      Community service leave

      • Employees, including casual employees, can take community service leave for activities such as voluntary emergency management activities or jury duty.

      Article page on Community service leave

      Long service leave

      Long service leave entitlements generally come from state or territory-based legislation, which will set out:

      • how long an employee has to be working to get long service leave (for example, after 7 or 10 years)
      • how much long service leave the employee gets.

      In some states and territories long serving casuals are eligible for long service leave.

      In some cases, pre-modern awards that covered employers and employees before 1 January 2010, will determine the employee’s long service leave entitlement.

      Article page on Long service leave

      Public holidays

      • Employees have an entitlement to be absent from work on a day or part-day that is a public holiday.
      • Employers may request employees to work on a public holiday if it is reasonable.
      • Where a full or part-time employee is absent on a public holiday, they receive their base rate of pay for the employee’s ordinary hours of work on the day that the public holidays fall on.

      Article page on Public holidays

      Notice of termination and redundancy pay

      • For an employer giving notice to full-time and part-time employees, 1-5 weeks notice (or pay instead of notice) is required, based on length of employment and age.
      • If an award/agreement free employee resigns, employees don’t need to provide notice (except as specified in their employment contract).
      • Modern awards, enterprise agreements and employment contracts may set out additional notice requirements to the NES.
      • 4- 16 weeks redundancy pay based on length of employment (small business employees are excluded)

      Article page on Notice of termination and redundancy pay

      Fair Work information statement and casual employment information statement

      • All employees must receive a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement (FWIS) from their employer when they start their new job. The FWIS provides new employees with information about their conditions of employment.
      • Casual employees must receive the Casual Employment Information Statement (CEIS) from their employer when they start their new job. The CEIS provides new employees with information specific to their casual employment.
      • Employers can be fined for failing to provide the FWIS or CEIS.

      For more information: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/national-employment-standards/fair-work-information-statement

      For more information: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/national-employment-standards/casual-employment-information-statement