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Fairness @ work

Your minimum entitlements at work

The State Fair Work Act 1994 provides the minimum entitlements for all employees in the state industrial relations system (in South Australia).

Every employee must receive the following ‘minimum entitlements’.

Annual leave
Most permanent employees get 20 paid annual leave days for every 12 months worked. Annual leave is usually paid at the same rate as ordinary hours and depending on your award or enterprise agreement, you may get an annual leave loading (usually 17.5%).

Taking annual leave should be mutually agreed to between the employer and employee.

Each award may change when it comes to paying annual leave loading on termination of employment. It‘s important to check your particular award or enterprise agreement before working out when and if annual leave loading is payable.

A part-time employee is entitled to a pro-rata (proportionate) amount of annual leave based on the average number of hours worked in the past 12 months. For example, if an employee worked an average of 20 hours per week over a 12 month period they would be entitled to 80 hours paid annual leave (four weeks x 20 hours). It is important to check your award or agreement in relation to pro rata leave.

Casual employees do not get annual leave, but they are paid at a higher rate to make up for this.

Sick leave
The standard amount of paid sick leave for all non-casual employees is ten days a year, which builds up from one year to the next.

Sick leave may be taken in one-hour blocks. If you are sick, you must notify your employer as soon as possible, if this is not possible, it needs to be no later than 24 hours after the sick leave begins.

Sick leave is paid as long as you satisfy your employer that you have been sick and have not already used up all the sick leave owing to you. You may need to give a medical certificate to your employer. If you leave your job, you are not normally paid out for the sick leave you built up during your employment. Check your award or agreement for details of your entitlements.

Casual employees generally do not get paid for sick leave, but are paid at a higher rate to make up for this.

Parental leave
Parental leave covers maternity leave for women and paternity leave for men. Employees who have worked for their employer continuously for at least 12 months may be able to use unpaid parental leave to care for a new baby or an adopted child. Check your award or agreement for details of your entitlements.

Carer’s leave
Full-time employees are able to take up to five days carer’s leave from their sick leave entitlements per year to look after a sick family member (a proportionate amount of time can be taken for part-time employees).

If you have used all of your paid sick leave, you may be able to take unpaid leave. Some carer’s may use part of their annual leave entitlements to care for a sick child or close family member. Your award or agreement will explain how this leave can be taken.

Bereavement leave

You are able to have two days bereavement leave for the death of a family member. This leave may be taken anytime between the date of death and two days after the funeral.

Long service leave

The majority of the South Australian workforce accrue long service leave regardless of whether they are in the national or state system of industrial relations. Some employees will be subject to national industrial instruments providing different long service leave rights. In South Australia however, many employees’ long service leave rights come from the State Long Service Leave Act 1987 or the State Construction Industry Long Service Leave Act 1987.

An employee who has completed ten years or more of service is entitled to 13 weeks long service leave. A further 1.3 weeks is granted for every completed year after ten years service. Pro-rata long service leave applies after seven years of service.

A casual employee may build up long service leave if they have worked regularly for ten years (or seven years to receive pro-rata long service leave). See the Long service leave brochure (PDF 56KB)for more information.

In the construction industry, service is recognised under the State Construction Industry Long Service Leave Act 1987.

Minimum Standard for severance pay
Employees are entitled to severance pay depending on their length of service. An employee would need to apply to the Industrial Relations Commission to have any entitlement to severance pay applied under the Standard.

Period of continuous service	Severance pay
Less than 1 year	Nil
1 year and less than 2 years	4 weeks’ pay
2 years and less than 3 years	6 weeks’ pay
3 years and less than 4 years	7 weeks’ pay
4 years and less than 5 years	8 weeks’ pay
5 years and less than 6 years	10 weeks’ pay
6 years and less than 7 years	11 weeks’ pay
7 years and over	12 weeks’ pay

Minimum Standard for remuneration (minimum wage)
The Full Bench of the Industrial Relations Commission of South Australia must establish a Minimum Standard for remuneration (minimum wage) at least once in every year. The current minimum wage is $14.75 per hour for a permanent employee and $17.70 per hour for a casual employee.

Last updated: 21 October, 2010

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Fairness @ work

Your minimum entitlements at work

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