National Employment Standards 1

National Employment Standards impact all businesses

Almost every business in

Australia must comply with the

10 National Employment

Standards

The Fair Work Act 2009 introduced 10 new National Employment Standards (NES) and a

comprehensive Modern Award system which affect almost every business in Australia

The NES consist of 10 minimum conditions of employment that all lsquoNational System

Employersrsquo must now provide to their employees

For many businesses - even with access to dedicated HR resources - this legislation can

be complex and challenging Without sufficient knowledge or expertise your business

could be exposed to unnecessary administrative complications and increased risks of being

prosecuted

Remember that as an employer you are responsible for complying with the NES and heavy

fines can be imposed if you breach your NES obligations

The new rules

Find out all you need to know about the NES and how Workforce Guardian can give your

business confidence that your everyday employment relations decisions are compliant

Not only does Workforce Guardian reduce the costs of compliance with the Fair Work Act

2009 we also take the worry hassle and uncertainty out of understanding your obligations

so that you can get on with the job of running your business

Maximum Weekly Hours

Under the National Employment Standards the maximum number of ordinary weekly

working hours is capped at 38 for all your full-time employees For your part-time and casual

workers the maximum number of ordinary weekly working hours will depend on how many

hours the employee normally works The maximum for these employees will be the lesser of

either the normal number of hours they work each week or 38 For instance

bull If a part-time employee normally works 20 hours per week their maximum number

of ordinary weekly working hours will be 20

bull If a casual employee normally works 42 hours per week their maximum number

of ordinary weekly working hours will be 38

Reasonable additional hours

You can ask an employee to work lsquoreasonable additional hoursrsquo over and above their ordinary

weekly working hours Your employee is only obliged to accept the request to work these

additional hours if your request is lsquoreasonablersquo

What is reasonable

The NES includes a list of factors - such as family responsibilities health and safety

requirements and the needs of the business ndash which must be taken into consideration

Remember that the NES also allow Modern Awards and Enterprise Agreements to provide

for the lsquoaveraging of hoursrsquo to allow for regular fluctuations in your businessrsquo staffing

requirements

Itrsquos easy with Workforce Guardian

As specialists in the Fair Work Act all employment agreements generated

using your Workforce Guardian subscription service are compliant with the

NES ndash regardless of the hours of work The wording reflects your right to

request employees to work additional hours from time-to-time

Workforce Guardian Professional subscribers can also use our Hours of Work

Policy document from our extensive policy library

National Employment Standards 2

Flexible Working Arrangements

Under the National Employment Standards some of your employees are now eligible to request

flexible working arrangements from you An employee will be eligible if

bull they have 12 months of continuous service

AND

bull they are the parent of or have responsibility for the care of a child under school age or a

disabled child under 18

As an employer you must respond to your employeersquos request in writing within 21 days

Importantly you may only refuse a request on lsquoreasonable business groundsrsquo

Whatrsquos reasonable refusal

The term ldquoreasonable business groundsrdquo is not defined in the Fair Work Act 2009 This means

you need to consider the employeersquos request seriously and if you plan to refuse make sure

there are valid reasons that support your decision

Workforce Guardian makes ldquoflexiblerdquo easy

Itrsquos critical that all your employeesrsquo files are current and up to date Use

Workforce Guardianrsquos electronic employee filing system to keep accurate

records This is important because only some employees are eligible to

request flexible working arrangements under the NES With our service itrsquos

easy to check the eligibility of any employee who lodges a formal written

request with you and our correspondence templates make it easy for you to

respond

National Employment Standards 3

Parental Leave

The National Employment Standards require that you give your employees access to up

to 24 months of unpaid leave for the birth of a baby or adoption of a child under 16 This

entitlement extends to same sex couples

To qualify for this entitlement an employee must have completed 12 months of continuous

service with your business

Each member of an lsquoemployee couplersquo may take up to 12 monthsrsquo leave 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 employeersquos partner

You can only refuse your employeersquos request for an extension on lsquoreasonable business

groundsrsquo

Parental Leave Policy

It is essential that your business maintains a comprehensive Parental Leave Policy

Workforce Guardianrsquos streamlined policies and processes

If yoursquore still using the term ldquomaternity leaverdquo in your business itrsquos neither current

nor compliant Use Workforce Guardianrsquos comprehensive online policy library for

parental leave guidelines to ensure you have a formal process to deal with these

requests

As specialists in the Fair Work Act 2009 Workforce Guardianrsquos Parental Leave

Policy is compliant with the NES and we provide tools to help you respond to such

requests promptly and within time limits

National Employment Standards 4

Annual Leave

The National Employment Standards provide 4 weeksrsquo paid annual leave for each year of

service for your full-time employees A shift worker is entitled to a minimum of five weeksrsquo

annual leave

Part-time employees accrue paid leave on a lsquopro-ratarsquo basis and casual employees do not

accrue any form of paid leave

Cashing out

Modern Awards and Enterprise Agreements may include provisions dealing with the lsquocashing

outrsquo of annual leave when leave may be taken and whether you can require an employee to

take annual leave at certain times of the year Rostered Days Off (RDOs) are not covered by

the NES but they may be dealt with by Modern Awards so check these carefully

Detailed documentation

Itrsquos vital that you keep accurate and detailed records of your employeesrsquo annual leave accrual

and pay employees (other than casuals) correctly while theyrsquore on annual leave to avoid

future underpayment claims

Workforce Guardian simplifies record keeping

Uploading copies of any important documentation directly into your employeesrsquo

electronic files on Workforce Guardian helps you stay on top of leave entitlements

Use Workforce Guardianrsquos contract wizard to ensure that all your contracts specify

the required annual leave entitlements

National Employment Standards 5

PersonalCarerrsquos Leave and Compassionate Leave

PersonalCarerrsquos Leave is the new and more expansive leave entitlement that used to be

known as lsquosick leaversquo More than just personal leave it also allows your employees time off

to care for family members

Your full-time employees are entitled to 10 days of paid PersonalCarerrsquos Leave per year of

service and your part-time employees accrue this leave on a lsquopro-ratarsquo basis

When an employee has used all of their paid PersonalCarerrsquos Leave they may take up to

two days of unpaid PersonalCarerrsquos Leave each time this is required Casual employees do

not accrue paid leave so they may only take 2 days of unpaid PersonalCarerrsquos Leave when

necessary

What is Compassionate Leave

Compassionate Leave is available for your employees when a member of their immediate

family or household dies or has an illness or injury that poses a serious threat to their life

Your employees may take up to two days of paid Compassionate Leave each time this is

required Again casuals may take this form of leave but it will be unpaid Employees may be

required to provide evidence that would satisfy a reasonable person that the employee was

absent for a legitimate reason

Workforce Guardianrsquos comprehensive policy library

Still not updated your ldquosick leaverdquo policy Use Workforce Guardianrsquos policy library

for your PersonalCarerrsquos and Compassionate Leave guidelines Uploading

leave documentation to the employeersquos file means yoursquoll always have accurate

records on hand which make this entitlement easier to monitor Remember your

employees may only access Personal Carerrsquos Leave and Compassionate Leave

when the person who is ill or injured is closely connected to them

The definition of ldquoclosely connectedrdquo is far broader than you may realise

Our service provides precise definitions of what this means

National Employment Standards 6

Community Service Leave

The National Employment Standards provide paid leave for most employees who are required

to attend jury service and unpaid leave for those who volunteer to take part in emergency

management activities

You need to pay your employees (but not casual employees) in full for a period of up to 10

days while they are absent from work to perform jury service Any payments made to your

employee by the Court in recognition of jury service will reduce the amount you need to pay

your employee

All your employees are able to take an unlimited period of unpaid leave to volunteer with

emergency management organisations such as the Country Fire Authority and State

Emergency Service The period of leave taken must be lsquoreasonablersquo

Keep track of leave with Workforce Guardian

Remember all your employees including casuals are entitled to take Community

Service Leave

With Workforce Guardian you can keep and store accurate records of all leave

taken by your employees in their electronic employee files This means any leave

requests can always be cross-checked with your approval or reasonable refusal

based on the employeersquos actual leave claims

National Employment Standards 7

Long Service Leave

The Commonwealth Government is working with the States and Territories to develop a

uniform minimum Long Service Leave standard for all employees

The NES provide transitional arrangements while this new national standard is being

developed

Until the new national Long Service Leave standard is finalised you should follow the

transitional arrangements set out in the NES

Remember that in many cases your obligations in relation to Long Service Leave will not

have changed

Long Service Leave is covered on Workforce Guardian

It is essential that your business maintains a comprehensive Long Service Leave

policy that applies to all employees

To make it easy Workforce Guardianrsquos comprehensive online policy library includes

complete Long Service Leave guidelines which fully comply with the NES

Use our contracts wizard to ensure your Long Service Leave policy is fully

explained in your employment contracts

National Employment Standards 8

Public Holidays

The National Employment Standards allow employees to be absent from work on specified

public holidays and to be paid for the hours they would normally have worked on those days

If a State or Territory substitutes another day or declares an additional day your employees

are entitled to be absent on that new day

Public holidays may be substituted by agreement between you and an AwardAgreement-

free employee or in accordance with a Modern Award or Enterprise Agreement

Requesting or refusing to work on a public holiday

You may ask your employees to work on a public holiday but the employee may refuse if

your request is lsquounreasonablersquo The NES provides a non-exhaustive list of factors to be

taken into account when determining the reasonableness of your request The list includes

the nature of your workplace and the employeersquos personal circumstances including family

responsibilities

Manage public holidays better with Workforce Guardian

Public holidays form part of the NES which means that your employees are

entitled to reasonably refuse a request to work on those days They must also be

paid for the days they do not work as a result of the public holiday if the day falls

on a date they would usually attend work

National Employment Standards 9

Notice of Termination and Redundancy Pay

There are two ways for employers to exit employees from their business ndash one by

terminating employment and the other by making a position redundant Either way

they are usually stressful and upsetting for everyone concerned

The National Employment Standards set out strict rules for you so that terminating

employment is done in a fair and appropriate manner Please note that when making

an employeersquos position redundant eligible employees now have a statutory entitlement

to a redundancy payment so itrsquos critical to understand your obligations

Termination

When dismissing an employee you must usually provide them with written notice

of the dismissal The amount of notice you must provide varies depending on the age

of the employee and how long they have worked for you

Payment in lieu of notice

Alternatively you can provide payment lsquoin lieursquo of that notice or a combination of written

notice and payment in lieu

Fully compliant procedures for exiting employees

Workforce Guardian features comprehensive help and information on the steps and

procedures you need to follow to exit employees

Dismissing an employee is one of the most litigious areas of employment relations

law and the Workforce Guardian service fully explains your notice of termination

and redundancy payment obligations We also provide help for determining whether

your business meets the definition of a lsquosmall businessrsquo under the Fair Work Act

2009 so that you can fully understand your responsibilities as an employer

Redundancy

When making an employeersquos position redundant a redundancy payment needs to be

provided to the employee based on their period of continuous service to your business

Only small businesses with fewer than 15 employees as defined by the Fair Work Act

2009 may be automatically exempt from this particular NES

National Employment Standards 10

Fair Work Information Statement

Under the National Employment Standards itrsquos the right of every new employee to receive

the Fair Work Information Statement As a lsquoNational System Employerrsquo it is your obligation to

provide a copy of the Statement to all new employees

You must provide your new employees with a copy of the Statement prior to their date of

commencement - or as soon as practicable after they begin work

Serious penalties for non-compliance

Remember failing to provide your new employees with a Fair Work Information Statement is

a breach of the NES and penalties apply

Workforce Guardian makes compliance easy

We are experts in the Fair Work Act 2009 and using Workforce Guardianrsquos service

means yoursquoll be able to follow the compliant hiring and induction processes which

prompt you to provide a copy of this Statement to your new employees You can

even download a copy directly from the service and ask your new employee to

sign it and then scan and upload a copy directly into the employeersquos electronic

file

This means yoursquoll always have proof of compliance should you ever need it

National Employment Standards 11

Need further information or ready

to subscribe

Sign up for one of our Free Educational Webinars

Workforce Guardian presents a series of free online seminars which explain your employer

obligations under the Fair Work Act 2009 including the National Employment Standards

These are sessions no employer can afford to miss Go to wwwworkforceguardiancomau to

register

Contact us with questions or to arrange immediate access

To find out more about how the Workforce Guardian service can help you and your business

achieve compliance or to subscribe to our service please contact us directly on

1300 659 563 or email salesworkforceguardiancomau

Disclaimer

This infopack is intended to provide commentary and general information It should not be relied upon as legal advice Formal legal advice

may be necessary in particular transactions or on matters of interest arising from this infopack Workforce Guardian Pty Ltd

(wwwworkforceguardiancomau) is not responsible for the results of any actions taken on the basis of information in this infopack

nor for any error or omission in this document

copy Workforce Guardian

National Employment Standards 12