This page provides JobWatch’s submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Workplace Relations, Skills and Training for its inquiry into the operation and adequacy of the National Employment Standards.

March 26, 2026

The NES are 12 minimum workplace entitlements under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) that apply to employees in the national workplace relations system.

Our submission draws on more than 45 years of frontline experience providing free, tailored and confidential legal assistances to workers across Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania. Since 1999, JobWatch has collected more than 272,000 caller records through our Telephone Information Service (TIS). Our TIS database captures the full spectrum of workplace problems reported by our callers and allows us to track trends in employment issues and the demographics of those who experience them.

What does our submission recommend?

We make 19 detailed recommendations across two areas: strengthening existing standards and adding new ones.

The recommendations made relating to the existing NES including:

• A statutory definition of “employee” with a legal presumption in favour of employment, so that workers don’t bear the burden of proving their own employment status;
• The FWC be given power to arbitrate all disputes about minimum entitlements;
• Changes to parental leave protections, including ensuring that unpaid parental leave counts toward continuous service for redundancy pay eligibility;
• The return-to-work guarantee work alongside the right to request flexible working arrangements and discrimination law;
• Redundancy pay is not reduced after 10 years of service; and
• Reforms to long service leave provisions under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), which are poorly understood, often applied incorrectly, and produce inconsistent outcomes.

The recommendations made in relation to the introduction of new standards are as follows:

• The NES require employers to provide a written contract setting out essential terms as agreed between the employer and the employee before employment starts.
• Minimum wages to be included as a universal entitlement;
• Pay slip obligations to be included as a universal entitlement;
• Consultation about major workplace change to be included as a universal entitlement; and
• New climate-related protections, including leave to deal with extreme weather events and a new ground for requesting flexible working arrangements.

Nine community legal centres and organisations endorsed this submission: Basic Rights Queensland, Community Legal Centres Australia, Circle Green Community Legal, Eastern Community Legal Centre, Inner City Legal Centre, Marrickville Legal Centre, South-East Monash Legal Service, Youth Law Australia, and WestJustice.

Download the full submission

Frequently asked questions

What are the NES?

The NES are 12 minimum workplace entitlements under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) that apply to all employees in the national workplace relations system:

1. Maximum weekly hours of work – 38 hours per week, plus reasonable additional hours.
2. Requests for flexible working arrangements – Employees who have worked with the same employer for at least 12 months are able to make a request. If an employee is casual, they must have been working for the same employer regularly and systematically for at least 12 months and there is a reasonable expectation of continuing work on a regular and systematic basis.
3. Employee choice pathway for casual employees -Casual employees who have been employed for at least 6 months by a large employer or 12 months by a small employer may notify their employer that their employment no longer meets the definition of casual employment in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). The employer may accept the notification, or the FWC may arbitrate disputes.
4. Parental leave entitlements – Parental leave entitlements include maternity leave, paternity and partner leave, adoption leave, special maternity leave, a safe job and no safe job leave. 12 months continuous service (including regular casual employment) is required to be eligible. Employees are able to take up to 12 months unpaid leave with the right to request up to an additional 12 months.
5. Annual leave – 4 weeks paid leave per year, plus an additional week for certain shift workers. This is only for permanent employees. Pro rata for permanent part time employees.
6. Personal/carer’s leave, compassionate leave and family and domestic violence leave – 2 days unpaid carer’s leave as required (including casuals), 2 days compassionate leave (unpaid for casuals). All employees are entitled to 10 days’ paid family and domestic violence leave.
7. Community service leave – Unpaid leave for voluntary emergency activities. Leave for jury service, with an entitlement to be paid for up to 10 days for jury service.
8. Long Service Leave – Most employees’ entitlement to LSL comes from LSL laws in each state or territory.
9. Public holidays – A paid day off on a public holiday for permanent employees, except where reasonably requested to work.
10. Notice of termination and redundancy pay – Up to 5 weeks’ notice of termination and up to 16 weeks redundancy pay on redundancy, both based on length of service. This is only for permanent employees.
11. FWO statement and casual employment information statement – Must be provided by employers to all new employees and contains information on employment rights and obligations.
12. Superannuation – Most employees covered by the NES can take court action to recover unpaid super, unless the ATO has already commenced proceedings in relation to that super. The NES entitlement to super aligns with super laws, so if an employer complies with the super guarantee they will also meet their obligations under the NES. Under the current super guarantee, employers have to pay super contributions of 12% of an employee’s ordinary time earnings when an employee is:

• • Over 18 years
  • Under 18 years and works over 30 hours a week

Some awards, enterprise agreements and other agreements also have extra terms about super.

Who would be affected by these recommendations?

The recommendations in this submission would affect all employees covered by the national workplace relations system. Some recommendations are particularly relevant to migrant workers, women returning from parental leave, casual employees, and workers in insecure or informal employment.

What is a statutory presumption of employment?

A statutory presumption of employment would mean that a worker is legally presumed to be an employee unless the employer can prove otherwise. This would shift the burden of proof away from workers, many of whom lack the resources or legal knowledge to establish their own employment status.

What is the redundancy pay anomaly?

Under the current Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), redundancy pay increases progressively from 4 weeks after 1 year of service to 16 weeks after 9 years of service but then reduces to 12 weeks for employees with 10 or more years of service. JobWatch argues this reduction is unfair.

Why is JobWatch recommending climate leave?

Extreme weather events such as bushfires, floods and heatwaves are increasingly affecting workers’ ability to get to work, work safely, and manage their personal responsibilities. JobWatch recommends a new category of leave and an additional ground to request flexible working arrangements to address these impacts.