National Employment Standards (NES)

National Employment Standards

As of the 1st of January 2010, there are minimum conditions of employment on a federal level embodied in the National Employment Standards (NES). These standards are set out in the Fair Work Act 2009 that contains ten minimum standards of employment. They were a means of maintaining a safety net of fair working conditions. The standards address minimum wages, working hours, leave entitlements and termination. A contravention of a provision of NES may result to penalties of up to $10,200 for an individual and $51,000 for a corporation. These standards are listed here and explained in detail in succeeding chapters. Fair Work Act 2009 became effective on the 1st of July 2009 which replaced most of the Australian workplace systems.

The ten national employment standards are:

1.     Maximum weekly hours of work are 38 hours per week plus reasonable additional hours.

2.     Ability to request for flexible working arrangements in certain circumstances

3.     Parental leave and related entitlements

4.     Paid annual leave of four weeks paid leave plus additional week for certain shift workers

5.     Paid personal leave of ten days (covers sick and carer’s leave) except casual employees

6.     Community service leave such as voluntary emergency service and jury service

7.     Long service leave – this is generally governed by state and territory laws while the development of a national long service leave standard is pending

8.     Public holidays that are paid day off on public holidays except where reasonably requested to work

9.     Notice of termination and redundancy – up to five weeks’ notice of termination and 16 weeks’ severance pay on redundancy which is based on the employee’s length of service

10.  Provision of Fair Work Information Statement must be provided by employers to all employees. The statement contains the National Employment Standards (NES), modern awards, agreement-making, the right to freedom of association, termination of employment, individual flexibility arrangements, among others.

For more information please visit www.fairwork.gov.au

Source: www.fairwork.gov.au