Ending employment

Step 6 of 8: Ending employment

1 Position 2 Hours 3 Pay 4 Leave 5 Obligations 6 Ending employment 7 Review 8 Finalise

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Dismissal notice

If you dismiss an employee, you must provide specific minimum notice periods or the equivalent pay (unless they're in the list of employees that do not get notice). You should also check the minimum notice in the award – some have longer notice periods. If your award isn't listed, choose 'Other' then find it in the linked list of awards.

Dismissal notice clause

Included

You are entitled to the following minimum notice periods (or payment in lieu of notice) if we end your employment. This does not apply if we end your employment for serious misconduct.

Continuous employment with us Minimum notice period
1 year or less 1 week
More than 1 year to 3 years 2 weeks
More than 3 years to 5 years 3 weeks
More than 5 years 4 weeks

You may be entitled to a longer minimum notice period under your award.

You will get an extra week of notice if you're older than 45 years and have worked for us for at least 2 years.

Some employees do not get notice

Exclusions apply. For example, employees do not get notice if their employment is terminated:

  • at the end of a fixed term contract
  • at the end of a seasonal worker arrangement
  • as a casual employee
  • due to serious misconduct.

Check for other exclusions on the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

Payment in lieu of notice

Instead of them working through the notice period you may pay your employee the equivalent amount.

Unfair dismissal

If you dismiss an employee and they think the dismissal is unfair, they may be able to challenge it through the Fair Work Commission. Learn more about ending employment and unfair dismissal on the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Ending employment page

Redundancy

Redundancy can occur when you either no longer need an employee's job to be done by anyone (e.g. you get technology that replaces the job), or you become insolvent or bankrupt.

Redundancy clause

Included

If your position is terminated due to redundancy, any notice and redundancy pay entitlements will be in accordance with the National Employment Standards and your award.

Redundancy pay

When an employee's job is made redundant, you may have to provide redundancy pay if:

  • they've been working for you for at least a year
  • your business has at least 15 employees when they're made redundant.

You'll also need to know the rules around:

  • consultation – if you make workplace changes that are likely to cause redundancies
  • giving notice
  • notifying Services Australia if you're making 15 or more employees redundant.

Find more information on notice and redundancy pay, including exclusions, on the Fair Work Ombudsman website. You should also check the award.

Misconduct

This sets out that you can dismiss (fire) the employee for serious misconduct without notice.

Misconduct clause clause

Optional to include

We may terminate your employment without notice, or payment in lieu of notice, if you engage in serious misconduct.

Serious misconduct is when an employee:

  • causes serious and imminent risk to the health and safety of another person or to the reputation, viability or profits of their employer's business, or
  • wilfully or deliberately behaves in a way that's inconsistent with continuing their employment.

Examples of serious misconduct include:

  • theft
  • fraud
  • violence/assault
  • sexual harassment
  • serious breaches of health and safety requirements
  • being drunk or affected by drugs at work
  • refusing to carry out work duties.

Serious misconduct

To dismiss an employee without notice, you must believe that their conduct is serious enough to justify immediate dismissal.

It's a good idea to document the misconduct, in case your employee makes an unfair dismissal claim. Be careful dismissing an employee this way. If the dismissal is found to be unfair, you may have to pay compensation, lost wages and/or give the employee their job back.

Check the Fair Work Ombudsman's website for more information on serious misconduct.

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