Employees pay, leave and entitlements
Understand employee entitlements and your obligations as an employer relating to wages, awards and agreements, leave and allowances.
For most employees, you can find their minimum pay rates and employment conditions in the relevant award or agreement.
An award sets out the minimum pay and conditions for a particular industry or occupation. While some employees aren’t covered by an award or agreement, all employees in Australia are entitled to:
a minimum wage
the 11 National Employment Standards (NES).
National Employment Standards
The National Employment Standards (NES) are 11 minimum employment entitlements that have to be provided to all employees.
The NES entitlements are:
maximum weekly hours
requests for flexible working arrangements
offers and requests to convert from casual to permanent employment
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 Employment Information Statement.
Casual employees only get some NES entitlements, like unpaid carer’s leave. They must be provided with a Casual Employment Information Statement and have a right to convert to permanent employment in some circumstances.
Employee wages and entitlements
As an employer, you must pay your employees at the correct rate, as well as any entitlements they are eligible for.
The wages and entitlements your employee is eligible for can depend on:
age
industry
qualifications
work duties and responsibilities.
Minimum wage
The national minimum wage is $882.80 per week, for a 38 hour week, or $23.23 per hour.
The national minimum wage provides a starting point to calculate your employees’ wages, however most employees are covered by an award. Awards set minimum wages for employees based on the type of work they’re doing and the industry they’re in. Some employees have special minimum wages in an award, for example:
juniors
apprentices and trainees.
Employees who have reduced capacity for work due to disability may also receive a percentage of a full wage. Go to the Fair Work Ombudsman website to learn more about employees with disability pay rates.
Awards
Modern awards are industry or occupation based minimum employment standards which apply in addition to the NES. Look up the award(s) relevant to your business on the Fair Work Ombudsman website to check for things like minimum pay rates, hours of work, breaks, allowances, leave and super.
Enterprise agreements
Enterprise agreements set out conditions of employment for a group of employees at one or more workplaces. You can draft your own enterprise agreement so that it reflects your particular business. You also must have two or more employees to create an enterprise agreement.
Most enterprise agreements result in better work conditions for employees than the modern award. If you use an enterprise agreement, it will apply instead of a modern award. The pay rate in an enterprise agreement can’t be less than the pay rate in the relevant modern award.

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