Many of your rights at work are based on the National Employment Standards (NES). Together with the national minimum wage, they are a minimum safety net for employees..
The National Employment Standards has 10 legislated employment conditions including:
1. Maximum weekly hours of work – 38 hours per week, plus reasonable additional hours.
2. Annual leave – 4 weeks paid leave per year, plus an extra week for some shift workers.
3. Personal / carer’s leave and compassionate leave – 10 days paid personal (sick) / carer’s leave, 2 days unpaid carer’s leave and 2 days compassionate leave (unpaid for casuals) as needed.
4. Community service leave – up to 10 days paid leave for jury service (after 10 days is unpaid) and unpaid leave for voluntary emergency work.
5. Public holidays – paid days off on public holidays unless it’s reasonable to ask the employee to work.
6. Parental leave and related entitlements – up to 12 months unpaid leave, the right to ask for an extra 12 months unpaid leave and other types of maternity, paternity and adoption leave.
7. Notice of termination and redundancy pay – up to 4 weeks’ notice of termination (plus an extra week if the employee is over 45 and has been in the job for at least 2 years) and up to 16 weeks redundancy pay.
8. Requests for flexible working arrangements – parents and carers can ask for a change in working arrangements to care for young children under school age or children under 18 with a disability.
9. Long service leave
10. Fair Work Information Statement – employers have to give the Fair Work Information Statement to all new employees.
You only get some of the National Employment Standards if you’re a casual. These are:
If you’ve been employed regularly and systematically for at least 12 months and there’s an expectation of ongoing work you’re also entitled to:
There is a lot more detail about the NES at the Fair Work Ombudsman website