Notice periods in Australia, explained
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
Notice periods in Australia are governed by a combination of the National Employment Standards (NES), any applicable modern award or enterprise agreement, and the individual employment contract — whichever provides the greater entitlement to the employee wins.
What the NES sets as the minimum
The Fair Work Act sets minimum notice periods based on how long an employee has been continuously employed. The scale runs from one week for employees with less than one year of service, up to four weeks for those who have been with the business for more than five years. Employees over 45 years old who have completed at least two years of continuous service are entitled to an additional week on top of whatever the base period is.
These minimums apply to most employees covered by the national workplace relations system, which includes the majority of private-sector businesses in Australia.
One important point: the NES minimums are a floor, not a ceiling. Your employment contracts or applicable award may specify longer notice periods, and if they do, those longer periods apply.
What counts as "notice"
Notice must be given in writing and must specify the date on which employment ends. It does not have to be given in person, but it does need to be clearly communicated.
The notice period starts the day after notice is given. If you hand someone a letter on a Monday, their notice period begins on Tuesday.
Employees are generally required to work through the notice period unless the employer agrees otherwise or pays the employee in lieu. Payment in lieu of notice means the employee's employment ends immediately and they receive the equivalent pay they would have earned during the notice period. You cannot dock someone's pay or force them to take leave to cover the notice period without their agreement.
Employee resignation and reciprocal obligations
Notice is a two-way obligation. Employees are also required to give notice when they resign. The NES does not specify a minimum notice period that employees must give — that obligation typically comes from the employment contract or applicable award.
If an employee resigns without giving the required notice, the Fair Work Act does permit an employer to withhold an amount from any monies owed (such as accrued annual leave in some circumstances), but only to the extent the contract or award allows this, and only up to a cap. This is an area where the rules are genuinely technical, so if you are considering withholding pay, take legal advice specific to your situation before acting.
Redundancy and the interaction with notice
When a role is being made redundant, notice of termination still applies — employees are entitled to their notice period (or payment in lieu) on top of any redundancy pay entitlement. These are separate obligations. The NES redundancy pay scale steps up with years of service, starting at four weeks' pay for one to two years of continuous employment and rising from there, with different rules applying for small businesses.
It is worth building both amounts into your financial planning before announcing a redundancy. Many employers focus on the redundancy pay figure and overlook the notice component, which can be a material additional cost for a long-tenured employee.
Summary dismissal — when notice does not apply
There is one situation where notice is not required: summary dismissal for serious misconduct. Serious misconduct covers things like theft, fraud, assault, or conduct that puts the health and safety of others at serious risk. If an employer terminates on this basis without notice, the conduct must genuinely meet that threshold — it is not a get-out clause for performance issues or general misconduct short of that bar.
Getting this wrong exposes the business to an unfair dismissal claim or a general protections claim, so again, if you are contemplating a summary dismissal, document everything and consider taking advice beforehand.
Practical things to sort before the notice period ends
Regardless of whether an employee is leaving by resignation or termination, there is a checklist worth working through before their last day:
- Confirm the final pay amount, including any accrued annual leave payout and the notice component.
- Update your Single Touch Payroll reporting — a termination payment is a pay event and needs to be reported accordingly, with finalisation completed by 14 July following the end of the financial year.
- Arrange the return of company property, revoke system access on the final day, and update any client-facing communications.
- Check whether the departing employee has a restraint of trade clause that may affect what they can do next, and whether it is actually enforceable (courts look at this carefully).
Getting the notice period right protects the business from claims and signals to the rest of your team that you handle departures properly — which matters more than most employers realise.
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