National Employment Standards
The 10 new National Employment Standards come into effect on 1 January, 2010. These cover employees in businesses in NSW, VIC, TAS, SA, QLD, ACT and The Northern Territory and all Pty Ltd companies in WA. As an employer, you will need to ensure you understand your new legal obligations to remain compliant and avoid hefty fines.
The National Employment Standards, together with Modern Awards, form the new safety net of minimum terms and conditions of employment for your staff. You cannot “opt-out” of these Standards and they override any terms and conditions in existing employment agreements which are less generous than those set out in the 10 new Standards.
What are the 10 National Employment Standards?
- Maximum Hours of work – the number of ‘ordinary hours’ that an employee may work in any given week is set at a maximum of 38
- Requests for Flexible Working Arrangements - gives eligible employees the right to request flexible work arrangements from their employer.
- Parental Leave – eligible employees can request for up to 24 months of parental leave under the new Standards.
- Annual Leave - the National Employment Standards provides four weeks paid annual leave for each year of service for full-time employees.
- Personal/Carer’s Leave and Compassionate Leave – all employees (other than casual employees) are entitled to 10 days paid personal/ carer’s leave per year.
- Community Service Leave - the Standard provides that employees are entitled to take up to 10 days paid leave for jury service and unlimited unpaid leave for voluntary emergency management activity.
- Long Service Leave - the Government will work with the States and Territories to develop a uniform minimum long service leave standard. Existing entitlements under State law will apply until this is completed.
- Public Holidays – the Standard confirms that employees are entitled to eight paid public holidays per year.
- Notice of Termination and Redundancy pay – depending on an employee’s years of service, different levels of termination or redundancy pay is required.
- Fair Work Information Statement – all employees must be given a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement by their employer, prior to commencing their employment.
Want to find out more?
Why not sign up for one of our free Fair Work Act webinars? Workforce Guardian presents online seminars focusing on the new National Employment Standards and how they will apply to your business. These are sessions no employer can afford to miss.
| Webinar | Date | Time |
| Unfair Dismissal: Avoiding the traps | Wed, Sept 1, 2010 | 12pm - 1pm AEST |
| Managing Your Employment Relations Made Easy | Thu, Sept 2, 2010 | 11am - 11:30am AEST |
| Introduction to the Workforce Guardian service | Tues, Sept 7, 2010 | 1pm - 2pm AEST |
| Managing Your Employment Relations Made Easy | Wed, Sept 8, 2010 | 3pm - 3:30pm AEST |
| Modern Awards - what it means to your business | Wed, Sept 15, 2010 | 12pm - 1pm AEST |
| Managing Your Employment Relations Made Easy | Thur, Sept 16, 2010 | 11am - 11:30am AEST |
| Managing Your Employment Relations Made Easy | Wed, Sept 22, 2010 | 11am - 11:30am AEST |
| Enterprise Agreements: superior employment contracts | Fri, Sept 24, 2010 | 12pm - 1pm AEST |
| Fair Work Compliance for Directors | Wed, Sept 29, 2010 | 1pm - 2pm AEST |
| Managing Your Employment Relations Made Easy | Thur, Sept 30, 2010 | 3pm - 3:30pm AEST |
