Employees' pay, leave and 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.

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 (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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

You have tax and superannuation obligations to your employees. These include:

• withholding tax from their pay
• making superannuation contributions
• record keeping and reporting.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Employers and employees can sometimes have misunderstandings about their rights and obligations at work.

Find out the facts about some common workplace myths.