Notice of Termination

Under the National Employment Standards (NES) set out in the Fair Work Act 2009, if you are eligible to receive notice, your employer must give you written notice specifying the day of termination of your employment no later than the last day you worked for your employer.

Your employer can give this notice by delivering it to you personally, leaving it at your last known address or by sending it to your last known address by pre-paid post. Your employer may receive a financial penalty for not giving you a written notice even if it has complied with the minimum notice of termination or pay instead of notice requirements.

It is unlawful for your employer to terminate your employment without giving you the required period of notice or pay instead of notice (see fact sheet for required periods of notice based on length of employment). Pay instead of notice should be calculated at the full rate of pay for the hours that you would have ordinarily worked had your employment continued until the end of the notice period. Employees aged 45 or over, with at least two years of continuous service, are entitled to one week extra.

You may be entitled to a longer notice period under a Modern Award, Enterprise Agreement or your employment contract.

For further support

More details including eligibility criteria, underpayments of notice entitlements and employee notice requirements can be found in the fact sheet which you should download.

Call our Telephone Information Service on Melbourne Metro (03) 9662 1933 or Regional Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania on 1800 331 617.