National Employment Standards

The new National Employment Standards (NES), is a system which replaces the current Australian Fair Pay and Condition Standard. It is a national system that serves like a safety net to all employers regardless of an employee's salary. The Standards commenced on 1 January 2010.

The current Australian Fair Pay and Condition Standard includes:

• Guaranteed basic rates of pay and casual loadings.

• Maximum hours of work.

• Annual leave. '

• Personal leave.

• Unpaid parental leave.

The new National Employment Standards include:

• Maximum weekly hours of work. The NES allows for a maximum of 38 ordinary hours of work for full time employees. Employers can ask an employee to work more than 38 hours but the request must be reasonable.

• The right to request flexible working arrangements. Hours can still be averaged, if working hours are done in accordance with a modern award or enterprise agreement, then the NES will not limit the period over which hours are averaged. Under WorkChoices, hours could only be averaged over a 12 month period.

• Parental leave and other related entitlements. The NES will continue to provide unpaid parental leave for permanent employees who have worked for an employer for at least 12 months. The Fair Work Act will now also provide the leave entitlements to long term casuals that have an ongoing expectation of employment. The leave would be available for those employees who will have responsibility for the care of a child. The NES  also doubles the total amount of time an employee can request, from 12 to 24 months. The NES also introduces parental leave for same sex de facto partners.

• Annual leave entitlements will remain the same, i.e. four weeks annual leave and five weeks for shift workers.

• Personal / carer's and compassionate leave. This amount remains the same, namely up to 10 days personal/ carer's leave that accrues on a pro-rate basis, and 2 days compassionate leave. Casual employees are not permitted any paid leave but may be entitled to take two days unpaid personal/ carer's or compassionate leave.

• Community service leave. This relates to entitlement to be absent from employment for the purpose of engaging in an eligible community service activity.

• Long service leave.

• Public holidays.

• Notice of termination and redundancy pay. All employees who are terminated or made redundant must be informed through written notice and they must be guaranteed entitlements of redundancy pay. Under NES an employer does not have to pay any redundancy if it is a small business (fewer than 15 employees), or if the employee is being made redundant and has less than one year's service.

• A ' Fair Work Information Statement' for all employees that make clear rights and entitlements under the new system and how to get advice and help.

The lawyers at The Quinn Group are able to review your existing employment contracts and advise you of what, if any, changes need to be made in order to meet your current obligations.

Find out more about our employment contract reviews. Call us on 1300 QUINNS (1300 784 667) or +61 2 9223 9166 to make an appointment or complete and submit the Express Enquiry form on the top right hand side of this page and we will contact you to discuss your enquiry.

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