What Australian employment law actually says
Find out what you are actually entitled to at work, in the Fair Work Ombudsman’s and the Act’s own words, with a link so you can check it yourself.
Where the law is clear, we say so. Where an employer, an HR consultancy or an advice column repeats something the law does not back, we say that too, and label it.
529 answers across 16 topics, each with its source and its date. Checked 23 August 2026; we re-check monthly. How this is kept current.
How much annual leave do I get, and when is it paid out?
All employees except casual employees accrue paid annual leave under the National Employment Standards from their first day of employment, including during any probation period; full-time and part-time employees get 4 weeks a year based on their ordinary hours, and the entitlement accumulates from year to year. Annual leave is taken for a period agreed between the employee and employer, the employer must not unreasonably refuse a request, and payment is at the employee's base rate for ordinary hours; a public holiday falling during annual leave is treated as not being annual leave, and an employment contract cannot provide less than these minimums. Paid annual leave cannot be cashed out except under cashing-out terms in a modern award or enterprise agreement or an agreement with an award/agreement-free employee, and an employer cannot force or pressure an employee to cash out leave. Unused annual leave is paid out when employment ends at the amount that would have been payable had the leave been taken, and an employer cannot force an employee to take annual leave during the notice period.
28 answers
What is a casual actually entitled to?
A person is a casual employee only if, at the start of employment, the relationship has no firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work and they are entitled to a casual loading or specific casual pay rate under an award, registered agreement or employment contract; this is assessed on the real substance, practical reality and true nature of the relationship, so a regular pattern of work can still be casual, and a person who starts as a casual remains casual until status is changed under Division 4A of Part 2-2, by FWC order under section 66MA or 739, under a fair work instrument, or by accepting another non-casual offer and starting work. Casual employees do not get most types of paid leave, notice of termination or redundancy pay even if they work regularly for a long time; under the NES they get 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave per year and access to a pathway to become permanent, and employers must give a Casual Employment Information Statement before or as soon as possible after start and at set times (for non-small business employers, after 6 and 12 months and then every 12 months); another source lists unpaid carer's, compassionate, family and domestic violence, and community service leave, and its family and domestic violence leave statement conflicts with the Fair Work Ombudsman's paid 10 days. The pathway to permanent employment changed from casual conversion to employee choice on 26 August 2024; a casual employed immediately before that date could issue a notice from 26 February 2025 if not employed by a small business, and from 26 August 2025 if employed by a small business, with older conversion pathways remaining available for some casuals up to 26 August 2025; the exception preventing a casual from being engaged on a fixed term contract does not apply to casual employees employed on a fixed term contract before 26 August 2024. For unfair dismissal, a period of casual service counts toward the period of employment only if the employment was as a regular casual and the employee had a reasonable expectation of continuing employment on a regular and systematic basis; casual shifts can be cancelled or the employee sent home early if not needed, and in theory a casual may decline work but may find refusal difficult when relying on future offers; it is illegal for an employer to dismiss or threaten to dismiss an employee to engage them as a casual to do the same or mostly the same work.
35 answers3 dated changes
Can I be punished for asserting a right at work?
Adverse action is unlawful if taken for a prohibited reason, and section 340 of the Fair Work Act 2009 prohibits taking adverse action because a person has or has not exercised a workplace right, or proposes or proposes not to exercise a workplace right, or to prevent its exercise; a workplace right includes the ability to initiate or participate in a process or proceedings under a workplace law or instrument and an employee's ability to make a complaint or inquiry in relation to their employment, and if an application alleges such a reason or intent, that reason or intent is presumed unless the person taking the action proves otherwise. A general protections claim can be made even without a dismissal, but a dismissal application must be made within 21 days of the dismissal taking effect, late applications are generally not accepted, and most extension requests, about 80%, are denied; a person cannot make a general protections dismissal application if they have already made an unfair dismissal or anti-discrimination application. The Fair Work Commission's role is limited to dispute resolution, not investigating or deciding who is right or wrong; if no agreement is reached it issues a certificate, after which the applicant has 14 days to apply to the Federal Court, the Fair Work division of the Federal Circuit and Family Court, or jointly to the Commission for arbitration, and arbitration is rare and requires all parties' agreement. The right to disconnect has applied from 26 August 2024 for employees of non-small business employers and from 26 August 2025 for employees of small business employers; the sources conflict on whether general protections offer protection from unfair dismissal, with the Commission stating general protections dismissal is not the same as unfair dismissal and Employsure asserting they offer national system employees protection from unfair dismissal.
38 answers2 dated changes
When do I qualify for long service leave?
Most employees' entitlement to long service leave comes from state or territory laws, not from the Fair Work Act itself; the Fair Work Act only confers long service leave under applicable award-derived long service leave terms. State and territory laws do not apply where a federal pre-modern award that would have covered the employer and employees before 1 January 2010 contains long service leave entitlements, and most modern awards do not contain an entitlement to long service leave. In Victoria, the Victorian Government states that most workers qualify after at least 7 years continuous service with one employer and accrue one week for every 60 weeks, with casual, seasonal and specified-term employees covered, and that a contract cannot lawfully avoid full payment or provide a lesser entitlement; Employsure states there is no pro-rata leave in Victoria, so the positions conflict. Long-serving casuals are eligible in some state and territory schemes, all states and territories have portable long service leave legislation for some industries, there is a national portable scheme for coal mining, and New South Wales is stated to provide 2 months after 10 years of continuous service.
22 answers1 dated changes
They said I am on probation. Do I have rights?
To be eligible to apply for unfair dismissal, an employee must have worked for the employer for at least 6 months, or 12 months if the employer is a small business, meaning a business with fewer than 15 employees counted at the earliest of when the employee is told their employment has been terminated or given notice of termination. The period of employment is the employee's continuous service with that employer, but casual service counts only if the employee was a regular casual with a reasonable expectation of continuing employment on a regular and systematic basis. After a change of business ownership, service with the first employer may count with the second employer, unless the old and new employers are not associated entities and the new employer informed the employee in writing before the new employment started that the old service would not be recognised. Employees on probation continue to receive the same entitlements as employees not on probation, and an employee who does not pass probation is still entitled to notice when employment ends; the employer usually decides the probation length, which often ranges from 3 to 6 months from the start of employment.
25 answers
What is the least I can legally be paid?
All employees working in Australia are entitled to a minimum wage. From 1 July 2026 the National Minimum Wage is $26.44 per hour or $1004.90 per week, calculated on a week of 38 ordinary hours, and it applies to employees not covered by an award or registered agreement; where an employee is covered by an award or agreement, the minimum wage set out in the award applies instead. From 1 July 2026 minimum award wages increase by 4.75%, with the lowest rate in any award that applies to ongoing employment at least $1004.90 per week or $26.44 per hour and any entry-level rate that applies to the first 6 months or less of employment at least $978.10 per week or $25.74 per hour; the National Minimum Wage Order 2026 takes effect for a particular employee from the start of the employee's first full pay period that starts on or after 1 July 2026, and an employer of an employee to whom the national minimum wage applies must pay a base rate of pay that at least equals that wage, while the casual loading for award/agreement free employees is 25 per cent. From 1 January 2025 intentional underpayment of wages or entitlements can be a criminal offence, but this does not include honest mistakes, and a small business employer cannot be referred for criminal prosecution if the Fair Work Ombudsman is satisfied the employer has complied with the Voluntary Small Business Wage Compliance Code; the Fair Work Commission reviews the National Minimum Wage and minimum award pay rates each year, and most changes begin on the first full pay period on or after 1 July.
41 answers9 dated changes
Which award covers me, and what does it change?
A modern award is a legal document that outlines minimum pay rates and conditions of employment, and most awards are industry-based and generally considered before occupational awards. The Fair Work Commission started reviewing most awards in 2014 and confirmed in October 2022 that it had finalised its review; most updated awards started taking effect at different stages throughout 2020. Awards have a coverage clause, usually clause 4, outlining who the award covers and does not cover, but coverage for some jobs or industries is not always clear, and an employer can be covered by more than one award depending on the jobs employees do. A modern award cannot exclude the National Employment Standards or provide conditions less than the NES, and an employment contract cannot provide less than the legal minimum entitlements in the NES or the employee's award or agreement; a person must not contravene a term of a modern award, but a modern award imposes no obligations unless it applies to the person, and it does not apply to particular employment when an enterprise agreement applies to that employment or at a time when the employee is a high income employee.
48 answers6 dated changes
How much notice am I owed?
Under the Fair Work Act, an employer must give written notice of the day of termination, and that day cannot be before the notice is given. The employer must either give notice at least as long as the NES minimum period based on the employee's length of continuous service on the day notice is given, or pay payment in lieu equal to the full amount the employee would have been paid for the hours they would have worked until the end of that period; if the employer pays out the notice, the payment must be made before or on the day of termination, employment ends on the employee's last working day, and leave and other entitlements stop accruing. The notice period starts the day after the employer tells the employee, ends on the last day of employment, and is not extended by leave or public holidays; employees over 45 with at least 2 years of continuous service get an extra week. Serious misconduct removes the notice requirement, and casuals are not entitled to written notice under the NES, but an employment ending during a probation period does not remove the notice entitlement; an award, agreement or employment contract may require a longer minimum notice period than the NES, and an employment contract cannot provide for less than the NES, the relevant award or agreement.
35 answers
What records must my employer keep and give me?
Under the Fair Work Act, employers must make and keep employee records of the prescribed kind for 7 years, and must not make or keep records they know are false or misleading or advertise employment at a rate that would contravene the Act or a fair work instrument. Pay slips must be given within one working day of paying an employee for work, in electronic form or hard copy, and electronic pay slips must have the same information as paper pay slips; they must not mention paid family and domestic violence leave, including any leave taken and leave balances, and an employer must not give a pay slip it knows is false or misleading. Time and wages records must be legible, in English, and readily accessible to a Fair Work Inspector, cannot be changed except to correct an error, and must be made available to an employee who asks, including after employment ends; employers must tell employees their leave balances if asked, but showing leave balances on a pay slip is not required. Fair Work Inspectors can issue infringement notices for not issuing pay slips at all or within one working day; in some cases, employers who have not given pay slips or kept records or made records available for inspection may have to prove to a court they did not underpay an employee, and in 2024-25 the Fair Work Ombudsman issued 743 infringement notices and 1,220 compliance notices and reported that poor record-keeping and incorrect pay slips continue to be a major problem.
47 answers
How much sick and carer’s leave do I get?
All employees, including full-time, part-time and casual employees, are entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave each year, and the National Employment Standards minimum applies even if an agreement provides less; the earlier five-day unpaid family and domestic violence leave entitlement is no longer available as at 1 August 2023, although one employer guide from 2025 still lists a five-day unpaid entitlement. For sick and carer's leave, full-time employees are entitled to 10 days of paid personal/carer's leave per year of service, pro-rata for part-time employees, accruing progressively and carrying over from year to year; casual employees are not entitled to paid sick leave but can take 2 days of unpaid carer's leave per permissible occasion, and cannot take that unpaid leave when they could instead take paid personal/carer's leave. An employee can take as much paid sick or carer's leave as they have accumulated, and a registered agreement, award or contract can set different entitlements but not less than the NES minimum. Employees must give notice as soon as practicable, state the period or expected period, and provide evidence that would satisfy a reasonable person if the employer asks; paid personal/carer's leave is paid at the base rate of pay for ordinary hours in the period, and a public holiday falling within the period is not counted as paid personal/carer's leave.
48 answers1 dated changes
Is this a genuine redundancy, and what am I owed?
Redundancy occurs when a business no longer needs an employee’s job to be done by anyone, and a dismissal is a genuine redundancy only if the employer no longer required the job because of changes in operational requirements and complied with any applicable award or enterprise agreement consultation obligation; it is not genuine if redeployment within the employer’s enterprise or an associated entity’s enterprise would have been reasonable. An employee may be entitled to redundancy pay under the National Employment Standards if they have at least one year of continuous service and their employer employs at least 15 people, but most small business employers do not have to pay it; redundancy pay is calculated at the employee’s base rate of pay for ordinary hours, excluding loadings, overtime and penalty rates, and unpaid leave does not count towards continuous service. The Fair Work Ombudsman states an employer considering making 15 or more employees redundant must give Services Australia written notification as soon as possible, while Employsure states the Fair Work Act requires notification when the number is over 15, so the threshold is not settled between them; if a redundancy is genuine, the employee cannot get an unfair dismissal remedy.
28 answers
How long do I have to lodge a claim?
Under the Fair Work Act, an unfair dismissal application must be made within 21 days after the dismissal took effect, a general protections dismissal application must be made within 21 days after the alleged dismissal took effect, and an unlawful termination application must be received within 21 days after the employment was terminated. The 21-day clock starts on the day after the dismissal takes effect, and the dismissal usually takes effect on the last day of the employment contract, which may be later than the last day at work; weekends and public holidays count, but if the last day is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday the deadline changes to the next business day, and the Fair Work Commission must receive the document by 11:59 pm on the deadline. Late applications are generally not accepted and about 80 per cent of extension requests are denied; an extension may be allowed only for exceptional circumstances, and not knowing the deadline or a post or courier delay is not accepted. After a general protections certificate is issued, the person has 14 days to apply to the Federal Court, the Fair Work division of the Federal Circuit and Family Court, or jointly to the Commission for arbitration, and a respondent to a general protections dismissal application has 7 days to respond.
38 answers2 dated changes
I think I am being underpaid. What can I do?
The Fair Work Ombudsman states that its enforcement options include compliance notices, infringement notices, enforceable undertakings, litigation, and criminal offences. Some breaches of the Fair Work Act are criminal offences, and the Ombudsman can investigate suspected criminal underpayment offences and refer suitable matters to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions or the Australian Federal Police. Only a court can determine a penalty amount, and a serious contravention happens where the court finds the person or business knew they were contravening an obligation under workplace laws or was reckless as to whether the contravention would occur. An employer who does not meet record-keeping or pay slip obligations and cannot give a reasonable excuse will need to disprove allegations in wage claims made in a court, and an employee considering their own legal action for an amount of $100,000 or less can use the small claims court.
17 answers
Was I unfairly dismissed?
An employee who believes they were unfairly dismissed must apply to the Fair Work Commission within 21 days after the dismissal took effect; the dismissal usually took effect on the last day the employee had a contract of employment, which may be later than the last day at work, and if the last day of the 21-day limit is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday the deadline changes to the next business day. Weekends and public holidays during the 21 days do not extend the deadline. To be protected, the person must have completed the minimum employment period, which is 6 months or 12 months if the employer is a small business, and a casual employee must also have worked on a regular and systematic basis and had a good reason to believe that would continue; employees over the high income threshold are protected only if a modern award covers them or an enterprise agreement applies to their employment. A person has been unfairly dismissed only if the Fair Work Commission is satisfied the person was dismissed, the dismissal was harsh, unjust or unreasonable, it was not consistent with the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code, and it was not a genuine redundancy. The Fair Work Ombudsman does not investigate unfair dismissal complaints.
29 answers
Can they make me work an unpaid trial shift?
An unpaid work trial is only a brief, directly supervised demonstration that a candidate has the skills for a vacant job. If a trial is not necessary to demonstrate those skills, lasts longer than is actually needed, is not directly supervised, or involves more than that demonstration, it may be unlawful, and any period beyond what is reasonably required must be paid at the appropriate minimum rate; a week-long unpaid trial to assess suitability is an employment relationship and must be paid. The Fair Work Ombudsman says a reasonable trial can range from an hour to one shift depending on the nature and complexity of the work. A person on trial who is an employee still has entitlements such as the legal minimum rate, regular pay slips, and tax deducted, and voluntary work is not unpaid trial work.
32 answers
Do they have to warn me three times first?
There is no legislative rule requiring a set number of written warnings before dismissal for poor performance, and the Fair Work Commission benchbook states there is no rule that an employee must receive three written warnings. But when a dismissal is due to underperformance, the Commission considers whether the employee was warned about their performance before the dismissal, and the warning must identify the relevant performance concern and make clear that poor performance may result in termination; a mere exhortation to improve is not enough. Serious misconduct may result in immediate termination, and a small business employer's dismissal is consistent with the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code if the employer complied with that Code. One employer guide describes two verbal warnings and a written warning before ending employment, but that sequence is not a legislative requirement.
18 answers