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Employees' pay, leave and entitlements
Employee entitlements
Your employees are entitled to certain employment standards, including a minimum wage.
The National Employment Standards are the minimum entitlements for employees in Australia. Employment conditions may also be in:
- an award, which sets out the minimum pay and conditions for an industry or occupation
- an enterprise agreement, which sets out conditions for a group of employees at one or more businesses
- employment contracts.
You can find the minimum pay rates and employment conditions for most employees in the relevant award or agreement.
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Watch a video explaining how pay and entitlements are set.
Fair Work Ombudsman
National Employment Standards
The National Employment Standards (NES) are a set of minimum entitlements for all employees.
These include:
- maximum weekly hours
- requests for flexible working arrangements
- offers and requests to convert from casual to permanent employment
- parental leave and related entitlements
- annual leave
- personal and carer's leave, compassionate leave, and family and domestic violence leave
- community service leave
- long service leave
- public holidays
- superannuation contributions
- notice of termination and redundancy pay
- giving employees a Fair Work Information Statement and Casual Employment Information Statement.
Casual staff
Casual employees only get some NES entitlements, like unpaid carer's leave. You must give them a Casual Employment Information Statement. Casual staff also have a right to convert to permanent employment in some circumstances.
Awards
Awards (sometimes called modern awards) set out the minimum employment standards for an industry or occupation. These may include pay, hours of work, breaks, allowances, leave and super.
Entitlements in an award apply in addition to the NES. They can’t be less that what’s in the NES.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has a tool to help you find awards relevant to your business.
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Learn more about awards.
Fair Work Ombudsman
Enterprise agreements
Enterprise agreements set out conditions for a group of employees at one or more businesses.
If you use an enterprise agreement, it will apply instead of the relevant award for your business.
The pay rate in an enterprise agreement can't be less than the pay rate in the award. The agreement must leave the employees better off overall than the minimum award entitlements.
Most enterprise agreements result in better work conditions for employees than the award.
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Learn more about enterprise agreements.
Fair Work Commission
Employment contracts
An employment contract sets out an individual employee’s pay and conditions.
A contract may provide extra entitlements. But it can't reduce an employee's entitlements or pay below the minimums set in an award, enterprise agreement or the NES.
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Use our free tool to create an employment contract.
Create an employment contract
Do you operate or employ people in Western Australia?
The national Fair Work system applies to most incorporated and Pty Ltd limited businesses in Western Australia (WA).
However, the WA industrial relations system covers sole traders and most partnerships in Western Australia.
If you're in the WA system, national awards and most of the NES don't apply to you. The WA Government has more information about:
- pay rates
- work hours, overtime and penalty rates
- whether the state or national system applies to your business.
Pay
You must pay your employees at the correct rate. Employees’ wages and entitlements can depend on their:
- age
- industry
- qualifications
- work duties and responsibilities.
Minimum wages
The national minimum wage is $915.90 per week (for a 38-hour week) or $24.10 per hour. This is the least you can pay employees.
However, most employees are covered by an award. Awards set minimum wages for different industries and types of work. Some employees have special minimum wages in an award, like juniors or apprentices and trainees.
Employees with reduced capacity for work due to disability may receive a percentage of a full wage. The Fair Work Ombudsman website has more information about pay rates for employees with disability.
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Learn more about minimum wages.
Fair Work Ombudsman -
Use the pay calculator to work out the minimum wage for your staff.
Fair Work Ombudsman
Payment for time worked
You pay your employees for the actual hours they worked. That means:
- If you ask someone to start work before or stay back after their rostered time, you must pay them for this extra time.
- If you require an employee to attend a meeting or compulsory training, you must pay them for this time.
- You may need to pay penalty rates or overtime if staff work outside their usual hours. Check your enterprise agreement or award for details.
Pay secrecy
Employees have the right to share, or ask other employees to share, information about their:
- pay
- employment terms and conditions needed to work out their pay, such as work hours.
Employees don’t have to share this information if they don't want to.
Find out more about pay secrecy on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.
Tax and super
You have tax and superannuation obligations to your employees. These include:
Leave
Annual leave
Annual leave, also known as holiday pay, is when you pay an employee who is taking time off work.
Full-time and part-time workers get 4 weeks of annual leave for every 12 months worked. Casual employees do not get annual leave.
Annual leave starts accumulating from an employee’s first day. They can take leave as soon as they accumulate it.
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Find out more about annual leave.
Fair Work Ombudsman
Parental leave
Eligible employees can take unpaid parental leave when:
- they give birth
- their partner gives birth
- they adopt a child under 16 years of age.
Employees get 12 months of unpaid parental leave. They can also ask for up to another 12 months of leave.
Employees may also have extra entitlements, such as paid parental leave. Paid parental leave could occur under:
- an award
- an enterprise agreement
- a company policy
- laws such as the Australian Government’s Parental Leave Pay scheme.
Consider how you can support new parents and help them return to work.
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Find out more about parental leave.
Fair Work Ombudsman
Sick and carer’s leave
Full-time and part-time employees can take paid sick or carer’s leave (also known as personal leave). Sick and carer's leave lets an employee take time off to deal with:
- personal illness or injury
- caring responsibilities
- family emergencies.
Full-time and part-time employees’ yearly entitlement of paid sick or carer’s leave depends on their ordinary hours of work. It is 10 days a year for full-time employees.
Casual employees and contractors do not get paid sick or carer’s leave but can access unpaid carer’s leave.
Employees can also take an extended period of unpaid sick leave. The Fair Work Ombudsman has more information on long periods of sick leave.
Evidence for sick and carer’s leave
You can ask an employee for evidence showing why they were away from work. An award, agreement or your business’s policies might specify when employees need this evidence.
Medical certificates and statutory declarations are examples of acceptable evidence. Evidence doesn’t have to include exact details about the injury or illness.
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Find out more about sick and carer’s leave.
Fair Work Ombudsman
Family and domestic violence leave
All employees (including part-time and casual employees) can access 10 days of paid domestic and family violence leave each year.
Employees can access all 10 days as soon as they start work. The entitlement resets on their work anniversary and does not accumulate from year to year.
Support is available
1800RESPECT is the national counselling, information and support service for domestic, family and sexual violence.
If you or someone you know is experiencing (or at risk of experiencing) domestic, family or sexual violence, contact 1800RESPECT by:
- calling 1800 737 732
- texting 0458 737 732
- starting an online chat or video call on the 1800RESPECT website.
1800RESPECT also has advice on how to support someone experiencing family or domestic violence.
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Read more about paid family and domestic violence leave.
Fair Work Ombudsman
Religious and cultural holidays
Australia is a diverse country. Your employees may want to take time off for religious or cultural events that aren’t public holidays.
The Department of Home Affairs’ calendar of cultural and religious days has some of the holidays your employees may celebrate.
Not letting your employees celebrate religious or cultural holidays could be discrimination. Give your employees flexibility to celebrate these days. You could also celebrate them together through work events.
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Understand how to support a diverse workforce.
Equal opportunity and diversity
Right to disconnect
If your business has 15 or more employees, your employees have a ‘right to disconnect’ outside work hours. Employees of smaller businesses will have the right to disconnect from 26 August 2025.
The right to disconnect means employees can refuse to monitor, read or respond to work-related communications outside of their working hours. However, there are some exceptions.
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Find out about the right to disconnect.
Fair Work Ombudsman
Allowances
Allowances are extra payments for some tasks, situations and work-related expenses.
The relevant award or enterprise agreement will outline the allowances you need to pay.
Uniform allowances
If your employees must wear a uniform distinctive to your business, you generally need to give your staff:
- an allowance to purchase a uniform
- a uniform free of charge.
If your business has an optional uniform, you might offer incentives for your employees to wear it, such as a discount to purchase it. Payments, reimbursements or discounts for non-compulsory uniforms may incur fringe benefits tax. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has information about fringe benefits tax.
Legal obligations for work-related items
You can’t make employees purchase work-related items from their wages. If you employ your staff under an award, the award will have specific information on work-related expenses.
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Learn more about uniforms, vehicle and travel entitlements.
Fair Work Ombudsman
Travel allowances
A travel allowance is a payment to cover accommodation, food, drink and other expenses when an employee travels for work.
Awards and enterprise agreements often include an employer’s obligations for travel allowances. But you don’t have to employ your staff under an award or enterprise agreement to provide them with a travel allowance.
Tax and reporting obligations for travel allowances
The ATO can help you identify what payments to record, report or pay tax on. It is your responsibility as an employer to do this for your employee.
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Learn more about tax and reporting obligations of travel allowances.
Australian Taxation Office
Workplace myths
Employers and employees can sometimes have misunderstandings about their rights and obligations at work.
Find out the facts about some common workplace myths.
This is not true.
You can’t send full-time or permanent part-time employees home without pay just because it’s quiet.
You can send casual employees home if they have worked (or you pay them for) the minimum number of hours defined under their award or agreement.
This is not true.
Employees start accruing leave as soon as they commence work.
This is not true.
Casual employees get some types of unpaid leave. This includes carer’s leave and compassionate leave.
Casual staff also get paid family and domestic violence leave.
This is generally not true.
You must give most full-time and part-time employees written notice, even if they are still on probation.
You don’t have to give an employee notice if you fire them for serious misconduct.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has more information about notice periods and when employees don’t get notice.
This is not true.
You’re not legally required to give an employee any warnings before you dismiss them.
However, you should give employees a chance to fix any performance issues. You might decide to give employees 3 warnings as part of your business’s policies and procedures.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has more information about managing employee performance.
Read next
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Find out more about employee entitlements in Australia.
Fair Work Ombudsman