Q&A: Minimum conditions of employment for WA employees

What are minimum conditions?

Minimum conditions of employment are a safety net of employment protections that cannot be removed or traded away for something else.

These are protected by law to reflect that they are considered particularly important, and to ensure that they can’t be changed.

Minimum conditions of employment apply:

• even if your contract says something different; and
• even if you agree to remove or change them.

Some minimum conditions only apply to certain types of employees. To know which minimum conditions of employment apply to you, you may need to clarify the following questions:

• are you an employee or another type of worker?
• are you a national system employee or a state system employee?
• are you a casual employee or a permanent employee?

If you aren’t sure, you might wish to have a look at our Q&As on these topics on our resources page first: https://circlegreen.org.au/resource/qas-for-wa-workers/

Minimum conditions for state and national system employees

National system minimum conditions are called the National Employment Standards or simply NES and are found in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). You can see more details about all the NES on the Fair Work website: https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/national-employment-standards

State system employees have minimum conditions under a few different laws and other instruments, however the main one is called the Minimum Conditions of Employment Act 1993 (WA). You can see more details about these rights on the website of the Department of Mines, Industry, Regulation and Safety: https://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/labour-relations/private-sector-employers-and-employees

All Western Australian employees

We recommend you look at these links for specific details about your rights. However, by way of summary, most permanent state and national system employees are entitled to the following minimum conditions:

• Rate of pay – You must be paid at least the minimum wage, which is changed every year. You may be entitled to a higher rate of pay than the minimum wage under an award, registered agreement, or your employment contract.
• Hours of work – Depending on your employment type (part time or full time), you will have usual hours of work per week. Sometimes you might need to work reasonable extra hours.
• Public holidays – You should be able to take the day off on a public holiday. If you would normally work on a public holiday, then your employer should pay you for that day.
• Annual leave – You should be allowed to take paid time off work. The amount of annual leave you are entitled to depends on whether you work part time or full time. If you are a full time employee, you are entitled to at least 4 weeks of paid annual leave each year.
• Personal leave (also known as sick and carer’s leave). This kind of leave allows you to take paid time off if you are sick, have caring responsibilities, or a family emergency. The amount of personal leave you are entitled to depends on whether you work part time or full time. If you are a full time employee, you are entitled to at least 10 days of paid personal leave each year.
• Parental leave – You may be entitled to parental leave if you, your spouse, or de facto partner has a child, or if you adopt a child.
• Compassionate / bereavement leave – You are entitled to at least 2 days of paid compassionate / bereavement leave when an immediate family member dies or is seriously sick.
• Long service leave – You may be entitled to some leave if you have been working for the same employer for a long period of time.
• Notice of termination – You may need to give notice if you want to resign, and your employer may need to give you notice if they want to fire you. The amount of notice will change depending on how long you have worked for the employer.
• Redundancy pay – If your job is made redundant, your employer may need to pay you redundancy pay.

If you are a state or national system casual employee, you may be entitled to:

• Casual loading – An extra amount of money on top of your hourly rate (eg 20% or 25% extra).
• Parental leave – if you have worked regular and systematic hours for a period of 12 months or more at the time of the birth (or adoption) of your child.

National system employees

If you are a national system employee, you may also be entitled to the following minimum conditions:

• Paid family and domestic violence leave – You are entitled to take family and domestic violence leave where you meet certain conditions. The amount of paid family and domestic violence leave you are entitled to depends on whether you work part time or full time. If you are a full time employee, you are entitled to at least 10 days of paid personal leave each year. For more information see the resource on the Fair Work Ombudsman’s website.
• Community service leave – You are entitled to take community service leave for things like voluntary emergency management activities, or jury duty. Sometimes your employer needs to pay you for this kind of leave.
• Requests for flexible working arrangements – You may be entitled to ask your employer for flexible working arrangements, such as different working hours or locations.
• The provision of the Fair Work Information Statement (FWIS) – Your employer must give you a copy of the FWIS before, or as soon as possible after, you start your job. The FWIS has information about your pay and conditions of employment.

State system employees

If you are a state system employee, you may also be entitled to the following minimum conditions:

• Job interview leave – If your job is going to be made redundant, you are entitled to a maximum of 8 hours of paid leave to go to job interviews.
• Unpaid family and domestic violence leave – You are entitled to 5 days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave each year. Casual employees are also entitled to this leave.