The legal framework to determine the wages and entitlements for employees is complex. Initially, you must abide by the 11 National Employment Standards (NES). NES
- Maximum weekly hours
- Requests for flexible working arrangements
- Offers and requests to convert from casual to permanent employees
- Parental leave and related entitlements
- Annual leave
- Personal/carer’s leave, compassionate leave and unpaid family and domestic violence leave
- Community service leave
- Long service leave
- Public holidays
- Notice of termination and redundancy pay
- Provision of Fair Work Information Statement and Casual Information Statement
Minimum conditions for work can come from registered agreements, awards or legislation. When a business has a registered agreement in place and it covers the work that the employee does, then the minimum pay and conditions in the agreement will apply. If there’s no registered agreement and an award covers the employer and the work the employee does, then the minimum pay and conditions of that award apply. You can use the find my award on the Fair Work website to check you are using the correct award.
When employing refer to the legal framework to determine the wages and entitlements for employees before creating an employment contract. This document can be created using the template provided by using Business.gov.au create-an-employment-contract
