The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) generally applies to national system employers and their employees in Australia. In South Australia this is all employees apart from state public servants and local government employees. However there are a few provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), namely unpaid parental leave and related entitlements, notice of termination and unlawful termination, which cover all employees in Australia [ss 744, 759 and 772].
The Fair Work Commission and the Fair Work Ombudsmanmanage the national system.
The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) generally applies in Australia to national system employers and their employees:
National system employer is defined in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) [s 14]. A national system employee is an individual who is employed by a national system employer and is not on a vocational placement [s 13].
All private sector employees in South Australia are national system employees, covered by the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).
Entitlements to parental leave [s 744] , notice of termination [s 759] and unlawful termination [s 772] extend to all employees in Australia. This means that those provisions apply to South Australian government and South Australian local government employees as well.
For the purposes of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), the effect of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) on the validity of any contract of employment is to be disregarded [s 40B].
How does the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) interact with state and territory laws?
The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) excludes state and territory industrial laws that would otherwise apply to national system employers and employees. This includes the industrial relations legislation, as well as other state and territory laws that apply to employment generally and regulate key aspects of the employment relationship.
A number of state and territory laws are preserved and will continue to apply to national system employers and their employees. These include laws dealing with work health and safety, workers compensation and discrimination [for the full list of preserved laws, see s 27].
Modern awards and enterprise agreements are subject to these preserved state and territory laws, but prevail over other state and territory laws (such as industry-specific employment laws) where inconsistent with those laws.
State or territory laws dealing with flexible working arrangements and community service leave are preserved if they provide a more beneficial entitlement to employees.
Long service leave entitlements in South Australia are also still covered by state law, namely the Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA) and the Construction Industry Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA).
The National Employment Standards under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) are 12 legislated minimum standards.
What are the 12 National Employment Standards?
1. Maximum weekly hours
The National Employment Standards provide maximum working hours of 38 hours per week for full-time employees. For employees who are not full-time employees (part-time or casual employees), weekly hours must not exceed the lesser of the employee’s ordinary hours or 38 hours.
Calculating an employee’s ordinary hours of work will depend on whether a modern award or an enterprise agreement applies to that employee:
1. Where a modern award or enterprise agreement applies to an employee the ordinary hours of work for that employee will be those hours set out in the modern award or enterprise agreement.
2. Where a modern award or enterprise agreement does not apply to an employee the ordinary hours of work for an award/agreement free employee are the hours agreed to between the employee and their employer.
3. If no such agreement is reached, ordinary hours of work will be the employee’s usual weekly hours of work. Regulations may be made to specify the usual weekly hours of work for an award/agreement free employee who is not a full-time employee and who does not have usual weekly hours of work.
An employee can be required or requested to work reasonable additional hours. There are a number of factors that must be considered in determining whether additional hours are reasonable, including:
The National Employment Standards allow modern awards and enterprise agreements to provide for the averaging of hours. This does not undercut the weekly hours guarantee but is relevant in considering if additional hours are reasonable. Employers and award/agreement free employees may also agree on the averaging of hours over a maximum period of 26 weeks [ss 62-64].
2. Requests for flexible working arrangements
The National Employment Standards give employees (who have 12 months of continuous service or regular and systematic service as a casual which is expected to continue) the right to request a change to working arrangements in some circumstances [s 65(1) and (2)].
These circumstances include where the employee [s 65(1)-(1B)]:
The request must be in writing and detail the change sought and reasons for the change [s 65(3)]. The employer must give the employee a written response within 21 days [s 65A(1)]. The response must [s 65A(2)]:
A request may only be refused if [s 65A(3)]:
In their written reasons for refusal, an employer must:
The National Employment Standards do not provide a complete definition as to what constitutes reasonable business grounds, but provide examples which include that it would be too costly, or that there is no ability to adapt other employees' work arrangements to accommodate the requested arrangements [s 65A(5)].
These provisions are not intended to displace state and territory laws that provide employee entitlements in relation to flexible work arrangements if they are more beneficial to employees [s 66].
3. Offers and requests to convert from casual to permanent employment
The National Employment Standards provide casual employees a right to become a permanent (full-time or part-time) employee in some circumstances. This is known as ‘casual conversion’ and is outlined in Division 4A of the Act. This can be a requirement for an employer to offer casual conversion, or a right that a casual employee can request themselves. Small business employers do not have to offer casual conversion to casual employees [s 66AA]. However, a casual employee can make a request themselves if certain requirements are met.
4. Parental leave and related entitlements
The National Employment Standards give employees (who have 12 months of continuous service or regular and systematic service as a casual which is expected to continue) access to up to 24 months unpaid leave in relation to the birth of a child or the placement for adoption of a child under 16 years old [ss 67-79]. This entitlement extends to same sex couples. Parents impacted by stillbirth or infant death who would have been entitled to unpaid parental leave that is birth-related, if the child had been born alive, is still entitled to the leave [s 77A(1)].
An employee is entitled to 12 months unpaid parental leave in the first instance [s 70]. An extension to this leave may also be sought, as outlined below.
The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) also gives access to flexible unpaid parental leave options. An employee may take up to 100 days of unpaid parental leave (flexible unpaid parental leave) during the 24‑month period starting on the date of birth or day of placement of the child if certain requirements are met [see section 72A]. A pregnant employee may take this leave from 6 weeks before the expected date of birth of the child [s 72A(2A)]. The employee must take the flexible unpaid parental leave as a single continuous period of one or more days, or separate periods of one or more days each[ s 72A(3)]. The flexible unpaid parental leave is unpaid parental leave, and so comes out of the employee’s entitlement to 12 months of unpaid parental leave under section 70 of the Act [s 72A(5)]. From 1 July 2023, there is no longer a restriction on taking ordinary unpaid parental leave following a period of flexible unpaid parental leave. Flexible unpaid leave can now be taken either prior to or following a period of ordinary unpaid parental leave under section 70 of the Act.
Please visit the Fair Work Ombudsman Maternity & Parental Leave website for further information.
An employee who has taken 12 months of unpaid parental leave may request an extension for a further period of up to 12 months. The available extension period will be reduced by any parental leave or special maternity leave taken by the employee’s partner. A request for extension may only be refused on reasonable business grounds. The request must be in writing at least 4 weeks before the end of the initial parental leave period of 12 months [s 76(2)]. The employer must give the employee a written response within 21 days which must either:
A request may only be refused if [s 76A(3)]:
The National Employment Standards do not provide a complete definition as to what constitutes reasonable business grounds, but provide examples which include that it would be too costly, or that there is no ability to adapt other employees' work arrangements to accommodate the requested arrangements [s 76(5)].
In their written reasons for refusal, an employer must:
The Fair Work Ombudsman and Services Australia have information available about the Australian Government Parental Leave Pay (PLP) system.
5. Annual leave
The National Employment Standards provide 4 weeks paid annual leave for each year of service. A shift worker (as defined by a modern award or enterprise agreement or, in the case of an award/agreement free employee, the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)) is entitled to 5 weeks annual leave.
Modern awards and enterprise agreements may include provisions dealing with cashing out of annual leave. Employers and award/agreement free employees may also agree to cash out. An agreement to cash out annual leave must be in writing and the payment must be for the full amount that the employee would have been paid if the employee had taken the leave. The employee must retain a balance of 4 weeks annual leave after the cash out.
Awards and agreements can also include provisions about taking or directing the taking of annual leave [ss 86-94].
6. Personal/carer's leave and compassionate leave, and paid family and domestic violence leave
Under the National Employment Standards, employees (other than casual employees) are entitled to 10 days paid personal/ carer’s leave. In August 2020, the High Court held that what is meant by a "day" or "10 days" must be calculated by reference to an employee's ordinary hours of work. One "day" refers to a 'notional day' consisting of one-tenth of the equivalent of an employee's ordinary hours of work in a two-week period. Therefore, the entitlement to "10 days" of paid personal/carer's leave can be calculated as 1/26 of an employee's ordinary hours of work in a year.
All employees are entitled to 2 days of unpaid carer’s leave per occasion (this entitlement applies to casual employees and other employees who have exhausted their paid leave entitlement).
Employees are also entitled to 2 days of paid compassionate leave per occasion (for casual employees, this is an unpaid entitlement). This includes up to 2 days of paid leave if the employee or their current spouse or de facto partner has a miscarriage (unpaid for casual employees).
Carer’s leave and compassionate leave entitlements may be taken in relation to a member of the employee’s household or ‘immediate family’ (this includes extended and blended families, de facto partners, step-relationships and adoptive relationships).
When taking personal/carer’s leave and compassionate leave, employees must:
Modern awards and enterprise agreements may allow for the cashing out of personal leave, provided certain conditions are met to ensure employees are protected (that is, the employee must retain a balance of 15 days paid leave after the cash out). An award/agreement free employee is not able to cash out personal/carer’s leave [ss 95-106].
NOTE:
To be protected from unlawful dismissal due to temporary absence due to illness [s 352 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)], a medical certificate should be provided to the employer within 24 hours or as is reasonable in the circumstances [see regulation 3.01 Fair Work Regulations 2009 (Cth)]. It is always advisable to provide a medical certificate to your employer if absent due to illness as soon as possible.
From 1 February 2023, most employees (full-time, part-time, or casual) are entitled to 10 days of Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave per 12 months of service. This entitlement commenced for employees of small businesses (less than 15 employees) on 1 August 2023. More information is available on Getting help from an employer or from the Fair Work Ombudsman.
7. Community service leave
The National Employment Standards provides a paid entitlement for employees required to attend jury service and unpaid leave for those who engage in a voluntary emergency management activity.
An employee is entitled to be paid by their employer for a period of up to 10 days while they are absent from work during a period of jury service. An employer may require the employee to obtain payments to which they are eligible from the applicable State/Territory or Commonwealth body; these payments will reduce the amount payable to the employee.
These provisions are not intended to displace State and Territory laws that provide employee entitlements in relation to engaging in eligible community service activities, if they are more beneficial to employees [ss 108-112].
8. Long service leave
The Federal government will work with the States and Territories to develop a uniform minimum long service leave standard. The National Employment Standards provide transitional arrangements while the new national standard is being developed.
Existing agreement entitlements continue to apply in South Australia [the Long Service Leave Act 1987 (SA)].
If an agreement is terminated, the National Employment Standards entitlement to Long Service Leave (the entitlement in the relevant pre-modernised award or, in some cases, pre-commencement multi-State agreement) or State/Territory legislation will apply in any future agreement.
There is limited scope to discount Long Service Leave where a pre-commencement agreement specifically excluded Long Service Leave [s 113].
9. Public holidays
The public holidays National Employment Standard allows employees to be absent from work on specified public holidays and to be paid for the hours they would normally work.
Public holidays may be substituted by agreement between an employer and an award/agreement free employee or if permitted under the terms in a modern award/enterprise agreement.
An employer may request an employee to work on a public holiday if the request is reasonable. The request may be refused if it is unreasonable or the employee’s refusal is reasonable. The National Employment Standard provides a non-exhaustive list of factors to be taken into account when determining the reasonableness of a request or refusal, which include [ss 114-116]:
In the case of Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union v OS MCAP Pty Ltd [2023] FCAFC 51 handed down by the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia on 28 March 2023, the distinction between a requirement or a request that an employee work a public holiday was considered. Their Honours stated at paragraphs 30 and 31:
Section 114 comprises one of the suite of NES which provide specific minimum entitlement protections for employees. It is clear from s 114(1) that the prima facie position is that an employee is entitled to be absent from his or her employment for a day or part day that is a public holiday. Not only is the employee entitled to be absent but also is entitled to be paid for that day of absence: s 116. The NES comprise standards which apply to the employment of employees, which “cannot be displaced”, regardless of contractual compulsion or where, as recognised under the [Fair Work] Act, an enterprise agreement includes terms of the kind referred to in s 55(5): s 61(1) of the FW Act. Furthermore, in circumstances where those provisions are contravened, an employer can be the subject of civil penalties by operation of s 44.
31 An employee is entitled to be absent from work on a public holiday, unless the exceptions under s 114(2)–(3) apply: An employer has “request[ed]” the employee to work and the request is reasonable (s 114(2), 3(a)) or the employee’s refusal is not reasonable (s 114(3)(b)).
10. Superannuation contributions
From 1 January 2024, the National Employment Standards include a right to superannuation contributions [s 116B]. While employers were already required to pay superannuation contributions for eligible employees under superannuation guarantee legislation prior to 1 January 2024, including it in the National Employment Standards will facilitate the recovery of unpaid or underpaid superannuation under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will remain the primary agency responsible for ensuring compliance with superannuation contribution requirements. Section 116D of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) prevents an application to the courts for recovery of superannuation under the National Employment Standards if the ATO has already commenced legal proceedings in respect of the same matter.
11. Notice of termination and redundancy pay
An employer must provide an employee with written notice of the day of termination of employment [ss 117-118].
An employer must provide notice of termination or payment in lieu of that notice. The required period of notice is set out in a table in the National Employment Standards.
An employee who has worked continuously for one year or more, whose position is made redundant (as defined in the National Employment Standards) is entitled to a payment based on years of continuous service with an employer. Businesses with less than 15 employees are exempt from this National Employment Standard [ss 119-121].
Exclusions apply including:
12. Fair Work Information Statement and Casual Employment Information Statement
The National Employment Standards require employers to give each new employee a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement containing information on key elements of the new system. Key elements include the roles of the Fair Work Commission and the Fair Work Ombudsman, the National Employment Standards, modern awards, agreement making and freedom of association. The Fair Work Information Statement must also contain information on individual flexibility arrangements, employee records and privacy and termination of employment.
An employer must give each new employee a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement (published by, and available from the Fair Work Ombudsman) prior to or as soon as practicable after commencement of employment [ss 124-125].
The National Employment Standards also require that employers must give a Casual Employment Information Statement (CEIS) to new casual employees when they start work. If an employer employs the employee more than once in a 12-month period, the CEIS is not required to be given more than once. Transitional rules apply for existing workers. Small business employers need to give their existing casual employees (employed before 27 March 2021) a copy of the CEIS as soon as possible after 27 March 2021. All other employers have to give their existing casual employees (employed before 27 March 2021) a copy of the CEIS as soon as possible after 27 September 2021 [see sections 47, 47A, 125A, 125B].
The National Employment Standards apply for employees not covered by awards or enterprise agreements
The National Employment Standards operate even if an employee is not covered by a modern award or enterprise agreement. The national minimum wage also applies to those employees.
The Miscellaneous Award 2020is the modern award which provides minimum entitlements for employees who are not covered by another (industry or occupation-based) modern award and who are performing work of a similar nature to that which has historically been regulated by award.
What is a modern award?
Modern awards build on the National Employment Standards and may include an additional 10 minimum conditions of employment, tailored to the needs of the particular industry or occupation. These include:
Each modern award includes a flexibility clause allowing employers and employees to negotiate arrangements to meet their individual needs, creating individual flexibility agreements [ss 145-146]. These agreements vary the effect of the award between the individual employee and employer, but do not effect other employees. If an employee has an individual flexibility agreement they must still be 'better off overall' than if they did not have the agreement [s 144(4)(c)]. Those agreements must also be genuinely entered into voluntarily [s 144 (4)(b)].
Who is covered by modern awards?
Modern awards cover all employees who perform work that has historically been regulated by awards. They are generally industry-specific and can be accessed via the Fair Work Commission's website on the Find an award page.
Modern awards do not apply to employees with guaranteed annual earnings of more than $162,000 (as at 1 July 2022, indexed each year and pro rata for part-time employees) [Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) s 47(2)]. This high-income threshold is indexed annually and adjusted in July each year in line with annual growth in average weekly ordinary time earnings for full-time adult employees. These employees and their employers will be free to agree on terms to supplement the National Employment Standards without reference to an award and may still be covered by an enterprise agreement.
An award does not apply to an employee if an employer provides a written undertaking to pay an employee annual earnings at or above the high income threshold over a period of 12 months or more.
A guarantee for a shorter period may apply in the case of a short-term, fixed-term contract or a particular type of work on a short-term basis. A guarantee does not apply to employees to whom an enterprise agreement applies.
The employer and employee must reach agreement about the undertaking before it commences operation. A guarantee may be given as a condition of accepting employment but an employer must not apply pressure to an employee in connection with the offer or acceptance of a guarantee of annual earnings. A guarantee can be given in respect of prospective employees.
How often will modern awards be reviewed?
The Fair Work Commission was previously able to review modern awards every four years to maintain a relevant and fair minimum safety net and make sure it continued to meet the needs of the community.
However, from 1 January 2018 the sections of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) that covered the 4 yearly review process were repealed by an amending Act.
An review of modern awards took place in 2012, two years after modern awards commenced. This review examined whether modern awards:
The first regular review took place in 2014, four years after modern awards commenced on 1 January 2010. Fair Work Australia was able to vary, make or revoke modern awards during this process. Each award was subject to review.
Modern awards continue to operate until they are revoked (cancelled) [Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) s 49(7)].
How are modern award varied (changed)?
In limited circumstances, the Fair Work Commission has the power to make, vary or revoke modern awards (for example, if it is satisfied that to do so is necessary to achieve the objectives of modern awards). It also has the power to vary an award:
The Fair Work Commission must review and vary an award as necessary if referred to the Commission under section 46PW of the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (Cth) (which deals with discriminatory industrial instruments) [s 161].
The main power to vary minimum wages within modern awards is through annual wage reviews. Otherwise, the Fair Work Commission may only vary the minimum wages within a modern award where the variation is justified for work value reasons, and the variation is necessary, outside the system of annual wage reviews, to achieve the modern awards objective [ss 157(2) and (2A)].
Section 158 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) sets out who may apply for an award to be made, varied or revoked.
What about people who are not covered by an award?
The 12 National Employment Standards apply to all national system employees—whether or not they are covered by an award. Modern awards apply to most, but not all employees.
The Minimum Wage Panel makes a national minimum wage order for employees who are not covered by a modern award. The order includes a national minimum wage and special national minimum wages for junior employees, employees to whom training arrangements apply and employees with a disability. It also includes a set safety net casual loading for casual employees who are not covered by either an award or an agreement. Further information about the Minimum Wage Panel and the current national minimum wage is available on Fair Work Commission's website.
The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) provides for employers and employees to enter into enterprise agreements that provide for the terms and conditions of the national system employees building on both the National Employment Standards and modern awards.
If an enterprise agreement applies to an employee, a modern award no longer applies [s 57].
Enterprise agreements can cover things that are not covered by, or that complement, the National Employment Standards [s 55]. The objectives of the laws are [s 171]:
The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) provides for a range of enterprise agreements, including:
If an enterprise agreement is made, a bargaining representative must apply to the Fair Work Commission to for approval of the agreement [s 185(1)]. The Commission must be satisfied, among other things, that [s 186 (2)]:
Each enterprise agreement must have a nominal expiry date of not more than 4 years and a term relating to the independent resolution of disputes [s 186(5) and (6)].
Genuine agreement
The Fair Work Commission must take into account the statement of principles made under section 188B in determining whether it is satisfied that an enterprise agreement has been genuinely agreed to by the employees [s 188]. The Fair Work (Statement of Principles on Genuine Agreement) Instrument 2023 deals with:
Better off overall test
An enterprise agreement (that is not a greenfields agreement) passes the better off overall test if the Fair Work Commission is satisfied, at the test time, that each reasonably foreseeable employee, would be better off overall if the agreement applied to the employee than if the relevant modern award applied [s 193(1)]. Individual flexibility agreements are to be disregarded [s 193(2)].
The Fair Work Commission must undertake a global assessment of whether each employee concerned would be better off having regard to [s 193A(2)]:
The Fair Work Commission must give consideration to any views relating to whether the agreement passes the test expressed by the employer and employees or bargaining representatives but must give primary consideration to any common views among the employer and employee bargaining representatives [s 193A(3)].
If there is concern that agreement does not meet the better off overall test, the Fair Work Commission may, after seeking the views of the parties, amend the agreement to address the concern [s 191A].
The Fair Work Commission may only have regard to reasonably foreseeable patterns, kinds of work or types of employment [s 193A(6)]. If certain patterns, kinds of work or types of employment arise that were not foreseen and had regard to, then an employer or employee may apply for a reconsideration of the test [s 227A].
Bargaining disputes
Where certain dispute resolution process requirements have been met and there is no reasonable prospect of an agreement being reached, an application to the Fair Work Commission may be made for an intractable bargaining declaration [s 235]. Once an intractable bargaining declaration has been made, the Commission must then make an intractable bargaining determination as quickly as possible [s 269].
What is a workplace right?
Workplace rights can be broadly described as employment entitlements and the freedom to exercise and enforce those entitlements. Section 341 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) sets out the following categories of workplace rights:
The workplace rights protections prohibit taking adverse action against a person because they have a workplace right or because they do (or do not) exercise their workplace right.
Workplace rights are wide ranging. An example of a workplace right is the prohibition against pay secrecy. An employee is permitted to disclose (or not disclose if they wish) any details about their pay or remuneration, as well as the terms of their employment, regardless of any pay secrecy terms in their contract of employment [ss 333B and 333C].
What is adverse action?
The general protections provisions protect people from adverse action. This is a key definition that intersects with a number of the protections.
What constitutes adverse action in a particular case depends on the nature of the relationship between the relevant persons. For example, adverse action taken by an employer against an employee includes dismissal, discrimination, refusing to employ a person, or prejudicially altering the position of the person [s 342].
The definition covers certain conduct of employers, employees, industrial associations, independent contractors and principals. It also extends to protect prospective employees from adverse action in certain circumstances [s 342].
What are industrial activities?
The industrial activities protections encompass a person’s freedom to be or not be a member or officer of an industrial association and participation or non-participation in certain industrial activities (for example, refusal to take part in industrial action). The protections prevent adverse action being taken against a person in connection with these industrial activities. The protections also prohibit incentives in relation to a decision to become or not become a member of an industrial association [s 350].
Coercion, misrepresentation and undue influence or pressure
Coercion and misrepresentation in relation to workplace rights and industrial activities is also prohibited [ss 344, 348 - 349]. For example:
Protections
Employees and prospective employees are protected from workplace discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, sex, sexual preference, age, disability, marital status, pregnancy, subjection to family or domestic violence, family or carer’s responsibilities, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin. The general protections prohibit all adverse action (such as victimisation and refusing to employ), not just dismissal, on discriminatory grounds.
The unlawful termination protections for discriminatory reasons (such as race, colour and sex) have been retained for non-national system employers, however the protection is limited to protection from dismissal.
The general protections also prohibit a person from discriminating against an employer for reasons including that employees of the employer are covered, or are not covered, by a particular type of workplace instrument (for example, coverage by a modern award instead of an enterprise agreement).
There are also protections to prohibit coercion of a person to make or not make certain employment or management decisions (for example, to allocate particular duties to a particular employee).
A employer is further prohibited from taking adverse action against a casual employee for making a request for casual conversion (a National Employment Standard under Division 4A of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)).
Sham contracting
There are protections against sham contracting. This is where employers try to disguise genuine employment arrangements as independent contracting arrangements [see ss 357 - 359].
To see if this affects you, visit the Fair Work Ombudsman's website.
Right to disconnect
In 2024 the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) introduced the 'right to disconnect'. Eligible employees may refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact or attempted contact from their employer or a third party outside of their working hours, unless refusal is unreasonable [s 333M(1), (2)]. This permits an eligible employee to ignore work-related calls, emails, text messages or other contact, unless such action is unreasonable.
Whether an employee's refusal to monitor, read or respond to contact from an employer or third party is unreasonable will depend on the circumstances of the case and factors including [s 333M(3)]:
The right to disconnect applies to employees of non-small business employers (15 or more employees) from 26 August 2024 and to employees of small business employers from 26 August 2025. For more information and resources, visit the Fair Work Ombudsman's website.
What if I believe these protections have been breached?
Where a person alleges a contravention of the general protections, the Fair Work Commission can hold a conference to attempt to resolve the matter. In cases involving dismissal, the conference is mandatory. In all other cases, participation in a Fair Work Commission conference is voluntary and a person can elect to proceed directly to court instead.
Where a person is dismissed from employment, a Fair Work Commission application to hold a conference must be made within 21 days of a dismissal. If the matter cannot be resolved at the conference, the person may apply to the Fair Work Division of the Federal Court or Division 2 of the Federal Circuit and Family Court for a remedy.
Available remedies include monetary penalties, injunctions, compensation, and reinstatement in the case of dismissal. Costs will only be awarded if the proceedings were instituted vexatiously, the costs were incurred due an unreasonable act by the other party, or one party unreasonably refused to participate in the Fair Work Commission's proceedings.
A guide to general protections applications is available on the Fair Work Commission's website.
A useful guide for working parents is available from the Supporting Working Parents website. This Guide covers when you need to tell your employer that you are preganant, rights and restrictions around pregnancy, returning to work and parental leave.
The Law Handbook chapter on discrimination has a specific section dealing with pregnancy discrimination.
General protections under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) also provide protections against discrimination in this area.
Under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and the National Employment Standards, some employees are entitled to up to two years unpaid leave following the birth or adoption of a child, see The National Employment Standards and the Fair Work Ombudsman. For information about the government Parental Leave Pay scheme, see the Law Handbook page Parental Leave Pay and the Services Australia website.
Part 2-8 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) provides for the circumstances in which a transfer of business can occur.
There will be a transfer of business from an old employer to a new employer if:
(i) the employment of an employee of the old employer has terminated;
(ii) within 3 months after the termination, the employee becomes employed by the new employer;
(iii) the transferring employee performs the same, or substantially the same, work for the new employer as he or she performed for the old employer;
(iv) there is at least one of four connections between the old employer and the new employer. The four connections are: an asset transfer; an outsourcing; an insourcing; or that the new and old employers are associated entities.
This connection requires that, in addition to the matters in (i) to (iii) above being satisfied:
This connection requires that in addition to the matters in (i) to (iii) above being satisfied, the old employer outsources work to the new employer. This will cover a situation, for example, where A (the old employer) outsources some of its work to B (the new employer) and B engages some of A’s employees to continue performing the work. This connection will apply irrespective of whether there is a transfer of assets between the old employer and the new employer. This connection is only intended to apply to the initial outsourcing of work and not the situation where work that has already been outsourced is retendered. In other words, it could apply when A initially tendered the work to B but would not apply if A retenders the work and awards the new contract to C rather than B [s 311].
The intention of this connection is that a transfer of business occurs where a new employer decides to in-source the work previously done by the transferring employee of the old employer [s 311].
This connection requires that the new employer is an associated entity of the old employer. The definition of ‘associated entity’ is the same as that used in the Corporations Act 2001(Cth). This connection is intended to cover some corporate restructures (for example where a company transfers some of its employees from one part of the company to another) [s 311].
The transfer of business provisions in Part 2-8 set out the default rules that apply to the coverage of transferable instruments (for example an enterprise agreement that has been approved by the Fair Work Commission, a workplace determination or a named employer award) when a transfer of business occurs.
The default rules provide that a transferable instrument that covered the old employer and a transferring employee immediately before the employee’s employment was terminated covers the new employer and the transferring employee. The intention of this rule is that a transferring employee should continue to have the benefit of their existing workplace instrument.
This means, for example, that an enterprise agreement or named employer award that already covered the new employer would not cover a transferring employee who is covered by a transferable instrument [s 313].
These rules have the effect that a transferable instrument covers a non-transferring employee of the new employer in certain circumstances. It allows new employees who are not transferring employees and to whom no other instrument applies to be covered by the same workplace instrument as the transferring employees [s 314].
The Fair Work Commission will have powers to make orders on application, in relation to transfers of business. For example, the Fair Work Commission may order that a transferable instrument cover existing or new employees of the new employer, not just transferring employees. The Fair Work Commission may also order that the transferable instrument not cover the new employer and the transferring employees.
In deciding whether to make such orders, the Fair Work Commission must take into account a range of matters including the views of the new employer and the relevant employees, whether any employees would be disadvantaged by making the order, and the financial position of the new employer [ss 317-320].
The transfer of employment provisions in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) protect employee entitlements in a broader range of corporate restructuring, including outsourcing/in-sourcing arrangements.
On a transfer of employment a new employer will be required to recognise employees’ service with the old employer when calculating certain National Employment Standard entitlements (for example personal/carers leave, parental leave and the right to request flexible work arrangements).
If the new employer and the old employer are not associated entities the new employer has a choice whether to recognise an employee’s prior service and their associated annual leave and redundancy pay. If the new employer does not agree to recognise service, the old employer must pay out these entitlements.
The new employer must inform transferring employees of any change to entitlements, including the requirement for a new minimum employment period for unfair dismissal. If the employer fails to inform the transferring employees in writing, previous service for the minimum employment period is recognised and the employees will not be required to serve out a new minimum employment period.
Where an employee is transferred to an employer that is an associated entity of the previous employer, the employee’s service with the previous employer will be deemed to be continuous for the purposes of service-related National Employment Standard entitlements and the unfair dismissal minimum employment period.
Further terms and conditions that are derived from an instrument may also transfer in a transfer of employment. Transferable instruments include enterprise agreements (whether or not in operation) that have been approved by the Fair Work Commission, workplace determinations and named employer awards. An employer or an employee will be covered by a modern award if they are included in the specified class, so there is no need to include provisions providing for the transfer of modern awards that operate on an industry basis.
We embrace diversity and welcome all people, irrespective of culture, faith, sexual orientation and gender identity.
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Legal Services acknowledges Aboriginal people as the Traditional Owners and ongoing occupants of the lands and waters in South Australia and we respect their spiritual, cultural and heritage beliefs. We recognise their continuing connection to land, water and community and pay our deep respect to Elders past and present.
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