Create an employment contract

The Employment Contract Tool helps small business employers to make an employment contract that complies with workplace laws. To use it, your employee must be:

• full-time, part-time or casual
• under the Fair Work (national workplace relations) system
• covered by an award
• on an hourly or weekly wage.

Do not use the tool if you want to pay your employee a salary. Contracts for salary arrangements have detailed requirements, so you need financial and legal advice for these.

If you’re employing:

• an apprentice or trainee – an Apprenticeship Network provider can help with contracts and other arrangements
• a piece worker – use the piecework agreement templates on the Fair Work Ombudsman website
• a seasonal worker– there’s a range of harvest employer resources on jobactive
• under an agreement – follow the Fair Work Commission’s steps to making an agreement
• an independent contractor – follow our guide on How to prepare a contract
• in Western Australia – read about employment contracts under the WA IR system.

An employment contract provides the basic terms and conditions of employment, such as:

• employer and employee details
• job title
• employment type (full-time, part-time or casual)
• employment dates
• hours of work
• pay and allowances
• leave
• notice requirements.

Make sure the contract does not provide conditions below the employee’s minimum entitlements. These entitlements are set out in the National Employment Standards (NES) and the relevant industry award or agreement (if one applies).

You may also include terms that provide incentives to your employee or to protect your business (such as an intellectual property clause). Our Employment Contract Tool steps you through some of these options.