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In Australia, full-time and part-time employees are entitled to a minimum of four weeks of paid annual leave for every 12 months of continuous service. Shift workers are entitled to five weeks of paid annual leave. Casual workers are not eligible for annual leave. It is up to each employer and employee to agree on when and for how long annual leave can be taken.

Annual leave accumulates from the first day of employment, even if an employee is in a probationary period. The leave accumulates gradually during the year, and any unused annual leave will roll over from year to year. If the employee resigns or is dismissed, their accrued, unused annual leave must be paid out on termination.

Employees also receive entitlements for long (and usually continuous) service. In most jurisdictions, workers are entitled to 3 months’ leave after working for the same employer for 15 years.

In Australia, sick and carer’s leave comes under the same leave entitlement. It is also known as personal/carer’s leave. Full-time employees receive 10 days each year. Part-time employees receive a proportion of 10 days each year, depending on their hours of work. This leave is paid at an employee’s base pay rate for each hour or part of an hour of leave they take.

An employee has to let their employer know that they are going to take sick or carer’s leave. Employers can ask for medical certificate as proof for even 1 day of leave.

In Australia, eligible parents are entitled to 20 weeks of Parental Leave Pay following the birth or adoption of a child. Pregnant employees may begin their leave up to 6 weeks in advance of the expected date of delivery, but no later than the date of the child’s birth.

Individuals must notify their employer at least 10 weeks before the child’s due date or date of adoption. Claims for Parental Leave Pay may be submitted up to 3 months before the child’s expected date of birth or adoption, and up to 52 weeks after.

The scheme provides eligible parents up to 24 weeks of Parental Leave Pay at the national minimum wage.

In Australia, male employees may be entitled to Parental Leave Pay of up to 24 weeks, provided they fulfill eligibility criteria. Parental leave benefits are also covered under government-funded parental leave.

To be eligible for this payment, an employee must be:

• The biological father of the child
• The partner of the birth mother
• The adoptive parent
• The partner of an adoptive parent
• The person caring for a child born of a surrogacy arrangement

Minimum Wage

Effective July 1, 2025, the national minimum wage for adults and employees with a disability that does not impact working capacity is set at AUD 948.00 (Australian dollars) per week, based on a 38-hour workweek, or AUD 24.95 per hour. Casual employees receive a minimum of 25% casual loading.

There are special minimum wage rules set for certain categories of employees.

From January 1, 2025, intentionally underpaying an employee’s wages or entitlements can be a criminal offense. Employers may face criminal charges if they deliberately fail to pay employees amounts owed, such as wages, leave entitlements, superannuation contributions, or payments made under salary sacrifice arrangements. If the court can determine the amount of the employer’s underpayment, the maximum fine will be the higher of 3 times the amount of the underpayment or AUD 8.25 million. In the case of an individual employer, the court can impose a maximum of 10 years in prison, a fine, or both.

Overtime, Holiday & Vacation Pay

In Australia, the standard workweek is 38 hours. An employer can request that an employee works reasonable overtime. Overtime can be reasonable so long as considerations such as health and safety are taken into account. An employee has the right to refuse to work overtime if the request is unreasonable. Overtime pay is determined in industry-level awards. Some awards and registered agreements allow an employee to take paid time off instead of being paid overtime pay. Employees earning over the high-income threshold are not covered by mandatory overtime rates.

Full-time and part-time employees are entitled to a minimum of four weeks of paid annual leave for every 12 months of continuous service.

Employees (except casual employees) who work on the day of a public holiday are paid their base pay rate for the regular hours they would have worked if they had not been away because of the public holiday.

Notice Period

In Australia, employers must give minimum periods of notice to employees based on the employee's continuous service, as follows:

• 1 week's notice for 1 year or less of service
• 2 weeks' notice for service between 1 and 3 years
• 3 weeks' notice for service between 3 and 5 years
• 4 weeks' notice for more than 5 years of service

Employees over 45 years old, who have worked for an employer for at least 2 years get an extra week of notice.

A contract may generally be summarily terminated if the employee is fired because of serious misconduct (e.g., engaging in theft, fraud, or assault).

Severance Benefits

In Australia, there is no provision for severance pay except for redundancy. The amount of redundancy pay varies between 4 and 16 weeks’ salary, depending on the length of an employee’s continuous service. The obligation to issue severance pay does not apply to small business employers (employers with fewer than 15 employees).

Casual employees, apprentices and those dismissed for gross misconduct are not entitled to redundancy pay.

When a business is bankrupt, employees can get help through the Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG). The FEG is available to eligible employees to help them get their unpaid entitlements.

Pension

In Australia, the retirement income system has 3 components:

• A means-tested Age Pension funded through general taxation revenue
• The superannuation guarantee through compulsory employer contributions to private superannuation savings
• Voluntary superannuation contributions and other private savings; superannuation savings are encouraged through taxation concessions

Currently, the total biweekly amount of means-tested age pension for a single claimant is AUD 1,178.70 (Australian dollars).

Dependents/Survivors Benefits

Families may also receive additional assistance under the family tax benefit laws.

Children, whose parents both have died or one parent has died, and the other is in prison for at least 10 years, a psychiatric institution or a nursing home for an indefinite period, are eligible for Double Orphans Pension.

Invalidity Benefits

Australian Social Security System covers disability benefits in the form of Disability Support Pension for persons who are under the retirement age and whose income has fallen below the cut-off limit which depends on age and family status due to permanent disability. Benefits include basic pension, mobility allowance, medical assistance, etc.

There is also an employer-liability program through a public or private carrier. Coverage is available to employees, with voluntary coverage for some self-employed persons. Disabled employees may receive invalidity payment as a part of an employment termination payment from their employer as a result of sustaining a permanent disability. A disability benefit can be in the form of either a lump sum or an income stream from the superannuation fund or from the employer.

Personal Income Tax

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is responsible for collecting income tax from working residents each financial year (July 1 through June 30). From July 1, 2022, employers must pay superannuation to eligible employees, including those who earn less than AUD 450 per month.

Personal income tax is a progressive tax and current rates range from 0 - 45% for residents and 32.5 - 45% for non-residents. Residents are also liable to a Medicare levy of 2% of the taxable income in addition to income tax.

Visas

• Visitor visas - granted for single or multiple entries for tourism, visiting family or friends, short-term business trip, or studying for up to 3 months. Multiple entry visa is valid for 12 months.
• Studying and training visas - granted to students for up to 5 years to participate in an eligible course of study or internship in Australia or bring family members.
• Family and partner visas - granted to those who wish to bring their family living outside Australia to the country for long-term or permanent stay in certain cases.
• Working and skilled visas - granted to individuals who are coming to Australia to work or for long-term business work or investment. It can be for a permanent stay or long-term stay of up to 5 years.
• Refugee and humanitarian visas -granted for temporary or permanent stay for resettlement of refugees or those seeking asylum in Australia.
• Other visas - This class includes special visas for aircraft, maritime crew members or investors.

Work Permits

Australia offers two categories of work visa: temporary and permanent. Temporary work visas generally require skilled workers where employers cannot source an appropriately skilled Australian worker, and allow stays for up to 4 years. Permanent work visas are usually nominated by employers and can be regional or allow working anywhere in Australia.

In Australia, young workers must be of the minimum school-leaving age to work during school hours. The age at which children can start working depends on each state's and territory's laws. Most agreements have a specific minimum wage for juniors (employees under 21).