National Employment Standards (NES) — Complete Summary of Your 11 Rights
The NES gives every Australian employee 11 minimum workplace rights. Here is a plain-English summary of each entitlement — maximum hours, leave, flexible arrangements, termination, and more.
What are the National Employment Standards?
The National Employment Standards (NES) are a set of 11 minimum workplace entitlements that apply to all employees in the national workplace relations system — which covers the vast majority of Australian employees. The NES is found in Part 2-2 of the Fair Work Act 2009 and operates as the absolute floor of workplace rights. No Modern Award, enterprise agreement, or employment contract can provide less than the NES. If a term in your award or agreement is less favourable than the NES, the NES entitlement prevails. The NES applies to all employees — full-time, part-time, and casual (although some entitlements, such as paid leave, do not apply to casuals). The 11 NES entitlements were last expanded in 2023 with the addition of paid family and domestic violence leave, bringing the total from 10 to 11. Together, these 11 standards form the foundation of every Australian employee's workplace rights. Whether you work in hospitality, mining, healthcare, or any other industry, the NES guarantees you these minimum protections.
1. Maximum weekly hours — 2. Flexible working arrangements
Maximum weekly hours (s62): Full-time employees cannot be required to work more than 38 hours per week, plus 'reasonable additional hours.' What counts as reasonable depends on factors including health and safety risks, the employee's personal circumstances (including family responsibilities), the needs of the workplace, whether overtime is compensated, and the employee's role and level of responsibility. An employee can refuse to work additional hours if they are unreasonable — and an employer cannot take adverse action against an employee for refusing unreasonable additional hours. For part-time employees, the maximum is their agreed ordinary hours. Requests for flexible working arrangements (s65): Certain employees have the right to request a change to their working arrangements, including hours, patterns, or location. Eligible employees include parents of school-age or younger children, carers, people with disability, employees aged 55 or older, employees experiencing family or domestic violence, and employees who are pregnant. The employer can only refuse on reasonable business grounds and must provide a written response within 21 days including the reasons for any refusal. From 2023, employees can appeal a refusal to the Fair Work Commission.
3. Parental leave — 4. Annual leave
Parental leave (s67-85): All employees (including casuals with 12 months of regular and systematic service) are entitled to up to 12 months of unpaid parental leave, with a right to request an additional 12 months. Both parents can take leave — the entitlement is per employee, not per couple. This is in addition to the government's Paid Parental Leave scheme (currently 20 weeks, increasing to 26 weeks by July 2026). During parental leave, your position is protected — you have the right to return to your pre-leave position or, if it no longer exists, an available position of comparable status and pay. Special maternity leave is available for pregnancy-related illness. Annual leave (s86-94): Full-time and part-time employees accrue 4 weeks of paid annual leave per year (5 weeks for certain shift workers under some awards). Leave accrues progressively throughout the year based on ordinary hours worked. Annual leave accumulates from year to year and does not expire. You can take annual leave at a time agreed with your employer. Unused annual leave must be paid out on termination at the employee's base rate of pay (or a higher rate if the award specifies).
5. Personal/carer's leave — 6. Compassionate leave — 7. Family and domestic violence leave
Personal/carer's leave (s96-107): Full-time and part-time employees get 10 days of paid personal/carer's leave per year. This covers both sick leave (when you are unfit for work due to personal illness or injury) and carer's leave (when you need to care for an immediate family member or household member who is ill, injured, or experiencing an unexpected emergency). Unused personal leave accumulates from year to year with no cap. Casuals can take 2 days of unpaid carer's leave per occasion. Compassionate leave (s104-106): All employees (including casuals, who take it unpaid) are entitled to 2 days of compassionate leave per occasion. This leave is available when a member of your immediate family or household contracts a life-threatening illness or injury, or dies. It can be taken as a single continuous period, two separate days, or any arrangement agreed with the employer. Family and domestic violence leave (s106A-106D): From 1 February 2023, all employees (including casuals) are entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave per year. This leave is available if you need to deal with the impact of family and domestic violence — for example, attending court, accessing support services, or relocating. The leave does not accumulate and renews each year. Payslips must not show FDV leave specifically — it must be shown in a way that does not identify its nature.
8. Community service leave — 9. Long service leave
Community service leave (s108-112): All employees are entitled to unpaid leave for eligible community service activities, which include jury duty and voluntary emergency management activities (such as volunteering with the SES, CFA, or RFS during emergencies). For jury duty, the employer must pay the employee their base rate of pay for the first 10 days (minus any jury duty pay received from the court). There is no limit on the amount of community service leave an employee can take — it lasts for as long as the activity requires. Employees must provide notice and evidence of the activity. Long service leave (s113): The NES preserves existing state and territory long service leave entitlements. Unlike other NES entitlements, which are set out in detail in the Fair Work Act, long service leave is governed by the applicable state or territory legislation. This means the entitlement varies by state. The standard entitlement is approximately 8.667 weeks (2 months) after 10 years of continuous service, but several states allow pro-rata access after 7 years. Some industries have portable long service leave schemes (building and construction, community services, contract cleaning) that allow leave to accrue across multiple employers.
10. Public holidays — 11. Notice of termination and redundancy pay
Public holidays (s114-116): All employees are entitled to be absent from work on a public holiday without loss of pay (for employees who would ordinarily work on that day). Australia has 8 national public holidays: New Year's Day, Australia Day, Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day, Queen's Birthday (date varies by state), and Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Each state and territory also declares additional public holidays. An employer can request an employee to work on a public holiday, but the employee can refuse if the request is unreasonable. If you do work on a public holiday, most awards provide penalty rates (typically double time or double time and a half). Notice of termination and redundancy pay (s117-123): When an employer terminates an employee's employment, they must provide minimum notice or payment in lieu. The minimum notice period is 1 week (under 1 year of service), 2 weeks (1-3 years), 3 weeks (3-5 years), or 4 weeks (5+ years), with an additional week for employees over 45 with at least 2 years of service. For redundancy, the NES provides a redundancy pay scale from 4 weeks (1-2 years) up to 16 weeks (9-10 years), then 12 weeks for 10+ years. Small businesses (fewer than 15 employees) are exempt from NES redundancy pay.
How the NES interacts with awards and agreements
The NES operates as the non-negotiable minimum floor. Modern Awards sit on top of the NES, providing additional industry-specific or occupation-specific conditions such as minimum pay rates, penalty rates, allowances, and rostering rules. Enterprise agreements sit on top of awards, providing workplace-specific conditions negotiated between the employer and employees. At every level, the NES cannot be undercut. If a Modern Award purported to provide only 3 weeks of annual leave, that term would be invalid and the NES entitlement of 4 weeks would apply. Similarly, an enterprise agreement cannot reduce NES entitlements even if employees vote to approve it — the Fair Work Commission would refuse to approve it under the BOOT test. Your employment contract may also provide additional benefits above the NES and award/agreement (such as additional leave, higher pay, or bonus structures), but any contractual term that falls below the NES is void to the extent of the inconsistency. This layered safety net — NES at the base, awards in the middle, agreements and contracts on top — is the fundamental architecture of Australian workplace law. Use our calculators below to check your specific entitlements under each NES right.
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Official resources
General information and estimates only — not legal, financial, or tax advice. Always verify with the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) or a qualified professional.
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