National Employment Standards (NES) (Australia)
The 11 minimum workplace entitlements that apply to all employees in the Australian national workplace relations system, as established by the Fair Work Act 2009, covering leave, hours, termination, and information rights.
- What Are the National Employment Standards (NES)?
- The 11 National Employment Standards Explained
- NES Leave Entitlements in Detail
- Maximum Weekly Hours and Reasonable Additional Hours
- Notice of Termination and Redundancy Pay
- Flexible Work Requests Under the NES
- Which NES Entitlements Apply to Casual Employees
- NES and Australian Workplace Statistics [2024]
- Frequently Asked Questions About the National Employment Standards
What Are the National Employment Standards (NES)?
Key Takeaways
- ✓The NES are 11 minimum entitlements that form the safety net for all employees covered by the national workplace relations system in Australia.
- ✓They apply to all full-time, part-time, and (with some exceptions) casual employees in the national system, regardless of their award, enterprise agreement, or employment contract.
- ✓An employer can provide more than the NES minimum but can never provide less. Any contract term that undercuts a NES entitlement is void.
- ✓The NES work alongside modern awards and enterprise agreements, which add industry-specific conditions on top of the NES floor.
- ✓Since 2022, the NES has expanded to include family and domestic violence leave (10 paid days) and strengthened flexible work request provisions.
Think of the NES as the absolute bottom line of what every Australian employee receives. No matter what industry you work in, no matter what your contract says, no matter how small the business: you get these 11 things. The NES was introduced by the Fair Work Act 2009, replacing a patchwork of state and federal minimum standards. Before 2009, what counted as a "minimum" varied depending on which state system covered you. The NES created a single national floor. For HR teams, the NES is the first thing to check when drafting employment contracts or updating policies. If your contract gives employees less than the NES in any area, that clause doesn't just get overridden. It's void as if it was never written. The employee gets the NES entitlement instead.
The 11 National Employment Standards Explained
Here's what each standard covers and what it means for employers.
| # | Standard | Key Entitlement |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maximum weekly hours | 38 hours per week for full-time employees, plus reasonable additional hours |
| 2 | Requests for flexible working arrangements | Eligible employees can request changes to hours, patterns, or location of work |
| 3 | Parental leave and related entitlements | 12 months unpaid leave (can request 12 more), plus other parental entitlements |
| 4 | Annual leave | 4 weeks paid leave per year (5 weeks for some shift workers) |
| 5 | Personal/carer's leave, compassionate leave, family violence leave | 10 days paid personal/carer's leave, 2 days compassionate leave, 10 days paid family violence leave |
| 6 | Community service leave | Unpaid leave for voluntary emergency activities, paid leave for jury service (excl. casual) |
| 7 | Long service leave | Preserved from pre-modern award conditions (varies by state, typically 8.67 weeks after 10 years) |
| 8 | Public holidays | Paid day off on gazetted public holidays, right to refuse unreasonable requests to work |
| 9 | Notice of termination and redundancy pay | 1-5 weeks notice based on service, up to 16 weeks redundancy pay based on service |
| 10 | Fair Work Information Statement and Casual Employment Information Statement | Must be provided to new employees before or as soon as practicable after starting |
| 11 | Superannuation | Added in 2024: right to choose superannuation fund and have contributions paid to a compliant fund |
NES Leave Entitlements in Detail
Leave is the area where most NES compliance questions arise.
Annual leave
Full-time employees accumulate 4 weeks (152 hours) of paid annual leave per year. Part-time employees accumulate a pro-rata amount based on their ordinary hours. Leave accrues progressively through the year and accumulates from year to year. Employers can't force employees to take leave to zero out balances unless there's a reasonable direction under the applicable award or agreement (typically when the balance exceeds 8 weeks). Unused annual leave must be paid out on termination. Shift workers covered by certain awards receive 5 weeks instead of 4.
Personal/carer's leave
Full-time employees get 10 days per year. It's used for personal illness or injury, or to care for an immediate family member or household member who is ill, injured, or facing an unexpected emergency. The balance accumulates from year to year with no cap. Unlike annual leave, unused personal leave isn't paid out on termination (unless the award or agreement says otherwise). Employers can request evidence (like a medical certificate) for single-day absences, but some awards restrict when evidence can be required.
Family and domestic violence leave
Added in 2022 and effective from February 2023. All employees (including casuals) get 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave per year. It doesn't accumulate. The leave is paid at the employee's full rate of pay. It's available to employees who need to do something to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence: attend court hearings, access police services, attend counseling, arrange alternative living, or other related activities. Employers must keep records of this leave type confidential and separate from general leave records.
Parental leave
Eligible employees get up to 12 months of unpaid parental leave and can request an additional 12 months (which the employer can refuse on reasonable business grounds). To be eligible, an employee must have completed 12 months of continuous service. Both parents can take leave, but they can only take 8 weeks concurrently. The government's Paid Parental Leave scheme (separate from the NES) provides up to 22 weeks of government-funded pay at the national minimum wage as of July 2024, increasing to 26 weeks by 2026.
Maximum Weekly Hours and Reasonable Additional Hours
The NES sets 38 ordinary hours per week for full-time employees. But the "reasonable additional hours" provision is where it gets complicated.
What counts as reasonable
An employer can ask an employee to work beyond 38 hours, and the employee can't unreasonably refuse. Whether additional hours are reasonable depends on: health and safety risks, the employee's personal circumstances (family responsibilities), the needs of the workplace, the employee's role and level of responsibility, whether overtime is paid or compensated, the amount of notice given, industry norms, and the employee's pattern of work. There's no hard cap on additional hours. A 50-hour week might be reasonable for a senior manager during a busy period but unreasonable for a warehouse worker with young children.
Interaction with awards and agreements
Most modern awards set specific overtime rates (typically 150% for the first 2-3 hours and 200% after that). Some enterprise agreements include averaging arrangements where ordinary hours can be averaged over a period (for example, 76 hours per fortnight rather than 38 per week). Annualized salary arrangements under awards often include a set number of "reasonable additional hours" that the salary is deemed to cover, but employers must still reconcile at year-end.
Notice of Termination and Redundancy Pay
The NES prescribes minimum notice periods and redundancy pay based on length of continuous service.
Small business exemption
Employers with fewer than 15 employees don't have to pay redundancy. This exemption recognizes that redundancy payments can be financially devastating for very small businesses. However, the FWC can order a lesser amount of redundancy pay if the employer obtains acceptable alternative employment for the employee or can't afford the full amount.
| Years of Service | Minimum Notice Period | Redundancy Pay |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1 year | 1 week | Nil |
| 1-3 years | 2 weeks | 4 weeks' pay |
| 3-5 years | 3 weeks | 6 weeks' pay |
| 5-9 years | 3 weeks | 7-8 weeks' pay (varies by year) |
| 9-10 years | 4 weeks | 9 weeks' pay |
| 10+ years | 5 weeks (employees over 45 with 2+ years get an extra week) | 12 weeks' pay (capped at 16 weeks for 10+ years) |
Flexible Work Requests Under the NES
The right to request flexible work was strengthened significantly in 2022.
Who can request
Eligible employees include: parents of school-age children or younger, carers (as defined under the Carer Recognition Act), people with disability, employees 55 or older, employees experiencing family or domestic violence, and employees supporting an immediate family member experiencing violence. To be eligible, the employee must have completed 12 months of continuous service (no minimum for casuals who have worked regular hours for 12 months and have a reasonable expectation of ongoing work).
Employer obligations (post-2022 reforms)
Employers must respond in writing within 21 days. Before refusing, the employer must discuss the request with the employee and genuinely try to reach agreement on alternative arrangements. Refusals must be on reasonable business grounds and must include specific details of those grounds, plus information about how to dispute the decision. If the employee disagrees with the refusal, they can apply to the FWC for a resolution. The FWC can make orders including requiring the employer to grant the request. This dispute resolution pathway was new in 2022 and gave the flexible work provisions real teeth.
Which NES Entitlements Apply to Casual Employees
Casuals don't get all 11 NES entitlements. Here's what they do and don't receive.
| NES Entitlement | Applies to Casuals? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum weekly hours | Yes | Same 38-hour limit applies |
| Flexible work requests | Yes (if regular casual) | Must have been working regular hours for 12 months |
| Parental leave | Yes (unpaid only, if regular casual) | Must have 12 months of regular service |
| Annual leave | No | Compensated through 25% casual loading |
| Personal/carer's leave | No (but 2 days unpaid carer's leave) | Compensated through casual loading |
| Family violence leave | Yes (paid) | All casuals regardless of service length |
| Community service leave | Yes (unpaid only) | No paid jury service leave for casuals |
| Long service leave | Depends on state | Some states include casuals after qualifying period |
| Public holidays | Yes | Paid if they ordinarily work on that day |
| Notice and redundancy | No | Casual employment can end without notice by either party |
| Information Statements | Yes | Must receive Casual Employment Information Statement |
| Superannuation | Yes | Same choice-of-fund rights as permanent employees |
NES and Australian Workplace Statistics [2024]
Key figures showing the scale and impact of Australia's minimum employment standards.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can an employment contract override the NES?
Do the NES apply to contractors?
Are NES entitlements the same in every state?
What happens if my employer doesn't provide the NES entitlements?
Does the NES apply to part-time employees?
Has superannuation always been part of the NES?
Written by Adithyan RK