Preparing for the National Employment Standards

The national employment standards in a nutshell

The national employment standards will take effect from 1 January 2010 and will operate as minimum standards of employment for all national system employees, including those on pre-reform certified agreements, WorkChoices AWAs and collective agreements entered into prior to the FW Act commencing operation.

For further detail on the national employment standards, click here

Preparing for the national employment standards

In preparing for the introduction of the national employment standards, employers are encouraged to:

1. Review all existing registered and unregistered employment agreements and ensure that they are consistent with the national employment standards, for example, different provisions will operate with respect to the cashing in of annual leave and will override any existing provisions to the contrary

2. Set out and confirm employee minimum entitlements to leave in a registered agreement

3. Ensure policies and procedures outline procedures to be followed where employees seek to access new minimum entitlements to community service leave, extended parental leave

Author: Katrina Sweatman