Whether you're working at a small business in Canberra, as an unpaid intern at an international company, for the Australian public service or for the university, you deserve to be treated fairly and be properly compensated for the work that you do.

National Employment Standards

Australia has legislated National Employment Standards which are the 10 minimum standards of employment which over the following:

• Maximum weekly hours of work – 38 hours per week, plus reasonable additional hours.
• Requests for flexible working arrangements – certain employees can ask to change their working arrangement.
• Parental leave and related entitlements – up to 12 months unpaid leave and the right to ask for an extra 12 months unpaid leave. Also includes adoption-related leave.
• Annual leave – four weeks paid leave per year, plus an additional week for some shift workers.
• Personal/carer’s leave and compassionate leave – 10 days paid personal/carer’s leave, two days unpaid carer’s leave as required, and two days compassionate leave as required.
• Community service leave – unpaid leave for voluntary emergency activities and leave for jury service, with an entitlement to be paid for up to 10 days for jury service.
• Long service leave – paid leave for employees who have been with the same employer for a long time.
• Public holidays – a paid day off on a public holiday (unpaid for casuals), except where reasonably requested to work.
• Notice of termination and redundancy pay – up to five weeks’ notice of termination and up to 16 weeks redundancy pay, both based on length of service.
• Provision of a Fair Work Information Statement – must be provided by employers to all new employees. 

Minimum Wages

The national minimum wage is currently $18.29 per hour or $694.90 per 38 hour week (before tax).

Casual employees covered by the national minimum wage also get at least a 25% casual loading.

For award and agreement-free junior employees, the percentage scale in the Miscellaneous Award 2010 is applied to the national minimum wage.

This means that if you are over the age of 21, your employer is legally obliged to pay you at least $18.29 per hour. Employers and employees cannot pay or be paid less than their applicable minimum wage, even if they agree to it.

For information specific to international students please click here. 

For information specific to ANU employees please click here.