Employment guides and templates
Workplace relations systems
Employees in every state and territory except Western Australia are covered by the federal industrial relations system (sometimes called the national workplace relations system) under the Fair Work Act.
Employees in Western Australia may be covered under the federal or state system, depending on the type of business.
Learn more in our guide to the federal industrial relations system or check the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DEMIRS) website to find out which system applies in Western Australia.
pdf document
How to fill out contract templates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations (108.96 KB)
Wages and conditions
Awards
The minimum wages and conditions an employee is entitled to are set out in awards (also known as modern awards). Awards don’t apply when an employer has an enterprise agreement or other registered agreement and the employee is covered by it.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has a list of all the awards under the federal system. We also have guides to the most common awards for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations.
For award employees under the WA state industrial relations system, the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission has a list of all the awards under the state system.
DEMIRS also publishes detailed summaries online. We've provided links to the most common WA awards for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations.
Award free
When an employee is not covered by an award or agreement they are considered to be award and agreement free. Award and agreement free employees may have an employment contract. They are also entitled to at least the:
Learn more in our guides to conditions of employment for award free employees.
Contracts
The wording of a contract depends on:
- which system you are employing a person under
- whether they are being employed under an award.
You can use our contract templates to get started. We've also provided a guide to filling out each template.
Federal industrial relations system
Award
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Template contract of employment for Federal Industrial Relations System modern awards (107.97 KB)
Award free
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Template contract of employment award-free for Federal Industrial Relations System (86.14 KB)
pdf document
How to fill out contract templates for award-free Federal Industrial Relations System (145.54 KB)
WA state system
Award
Award free
Ending employment
It's important to understand what you can and can't do if things aren't going well. There are certain things you must do under the law.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has some excellent guidance on managing underperformance and dispute resolution.
Termination
How you can terminate someone's employment changes depending on the size of your corporation under the Fair Work Act.
Learn more in our guides to terminating employment.
For more information about your rights and responsibilities towards your employees, visit the Fair Work Ombudsman website.