National Employment Standards
The National Employment Standards (NES) are minimum standards that have to be provided to all employees.
They include:
- Maximum weekly hours – 38 hours per week, plus reasonable additional hours.
- Requests for flexible working arrangements – certain employees can request a change in their working arrangements.
- Parental leave – up to 12 months unpaid leave per employee, as well as the right to request an additional 12 months leave.
- Annual leave – 4 weeks paid leave per year, plus an additional week for some shiftworkers.
- Sick and carer’s leave (also known as personal/carer’s leave) and compassionate leave – 10 days per year paid sick and carer’s leave (pro rata for part-time employees), 2 days unpaid carer’s leave and 2 days compassionate leave as required.
- Family and domestic violence leave – 10 days paid leave per year* *For small business employers, paid family and domestic violence leave starts from 1 August 2023. Until then, employees of a small business can access up to 5 days unpaid family and domestic violence leave. A small business, for these purposes, is one that had less than 15 employees on 1 February 2023.
- Community service leave – unpaid leave for voluntary emergency management activities and leave for jury service.
- Long service leave – paid leave for employees who have been with the same employer for a long time.
- Public holidays – an entitlement to a day off on a public holiday, unless reasonably requested to work.
- Notice of termination and redundancy pay – up to 5 weeks notice of termination and up to 16 weeks redundancy pay.
If you are unsure of any of the above, contact The Young Workers Centre or find support here.