Australian Employment Contract Generator

When to use

Triggers:

• "Draft an employment contract for [name]"
• "New hire paperwork"
• "Casual employment agreement"
• "Contractor agreement — are they actually a contractor?"
• "Employment contract for [role]"
• Any AU SME about to hire or onboard a worker

Don't fire for:

• Redundancy / termination agreements (separate skill — termination paperwork has specific Fair Work requirements)
• Executive / C-suite contracts with options and LTI (get a lawyer)
• International hires working in Australia (visa-specific layer on top; get advice)

Prerequisites

Before drafting, gather:

1. Employer details — legal entity name, ABN, trading name if different
2. Employee details — full name, address, TFN (for payroll setup, not contract)
3. Role details — job title, reporting line, location(s), start date
4. Type of employment — full-time, part-time, casual, fixed-term, maximum-term, contractor
5. Hours — weekly hours (full/part-time), pattern (shifts, days, span)
6. Remuneration — base salary or hourly rate, superannuation treatment (SG rate is 12% from 1 July 2025), allowances, bonuses
7. Modern award — which applies? (the Fair Work Commission's Awards page helps identify)
8. Probation period — yes/no, duration (typically 3–6 months)
9. Notice period — for both sides (must meet NES minimums)
10. Restraint clauses needed — non-compete, non-solicit, confidentiality (enforceability varies by state and scope)

If type of employment is unclear, use the contractor-vs-employee test below BEFORE drafting.

National Employment Standards (NES)

Every employment contract (except casual and most contractor arrangements) must honour the 11 NES entitlements. The contract can't contract out of them.

1. Maximum weekly hours — 38 hours for full-time, plus reasonable additional hours
2. Flexible working arrangements — specified employees (parent of school-age child, carer, 55+, family violence) can request
3. Parental leave — unpaid (12 months, extendable to 24), plus paid under the government scheme where applicable
4. Annual leave — 4 weeks per year (5 for continuous shift workers)
5. Personal/carer's leave — 10 days per year, paid; plus unpaid carer's leave and compassionate leave
6. Community service leave — unpaid, for voluntary emergency activities and jury service (paid up to 10 days)
7. Long service leave — state-specific legislation (usually ~8.67 weeks after 10 years, accrued pro-rata after a minimum period — varies)
8. Public holidays — 8 nationally gazetted + state-specific; paid leave if not worked, penalty rates if worked
9. Notice of termination and redundancy pay — scaled by years of service
10. Fair Work Information Statement — must be given to every new employee before/at commencement
11. Casual Employment Information Statement — must be given to every new casual

Full-time, part-time: all 11 apply. Casual: reduced set (no paid leave, no notice obligations outside contract).

Contract types — when each applies

Full-time permanent

• 38 ordinary hours per week (average over a period)
• Entitled to all NES including paid leave
• Notice periods per NES
• Can be probationary for 3–6 months (does not reduce statutory entitlements)

Part-time permanent

• Less than 38 ordinary hours per week, but regular and ongoing
• Entitled to all NES (pro-rata)
• Roster pattern must be agreed — changes need consultation
• Common in health, retail, professional services

Casual

• Definition changed August 2024 (under Closing Loopholes amendments): a casual is someone who has "no firm advance commitment to continuing and indefinite work according to an agreed pattern of work"
• Entitled to a casual loading (typically 25%) in lieu of paid leave, notice, and redundancy
• Can request conversion to permanent after 6 months (strict-test) or 12 months (in some circumstances)
• The ATO and Fair Work look closely at "casuals" who actually have regular, predictable patterns — those may be permanents in disguise

Fixed-term

• Start and end date specified
• Employed for a specific project, replacement coverage, or grant-funded role
• Under 2023 reforms, fixed-term contracts are capped at 2 years (with limited exceptions for specific roles)
• NES entitlements apply

Maximum-term

• Similar to fixed-term but with a provision for early termination with notice
• Rare in AU practice post-2023 reforms

Independent contractor

• Not an employee — different tax, no NES, no superannuation (usually), GST if they're GST-registered
• Commonly mis-classified — see sham-contracting section below

Contract structure (template outline)

EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

Between:
[Employer Legal Name] (ABN [XXX XXX XXX])
And:
[Employee Full Name] of [address]

### 1. Commencement
Start date: [DD Month YYYY]
Type: [Full-time / Part-time / Casual / Fixed-term]

### 2. Position
Title: [Role title]
Reporting to: [Role, not specific person — allows for changes]
Location: [Primary location(s)]

### 3. Hours of work
[Full-time: 38 hours/week, with reasonable additional hours]
[Part-time: [X] hours per week, [pattern]]
[Casual: on an as-needed basis; no guaranteed hours]

### 4. Remuneration
Base salary / hourly rate: $[amount] per [hour/week/annum]
Superannuation: [Statutory rate — currently 12% from 1 July 2025], paid to nominated fund
Review cycle: [Annual / on anniversary / as determined]
Allowances: [specific — tool allowance, phone, travel, etc.]

### 5. Leave entitlements
As per the National Employment Standards and the [applicable modern award].

### 6. Notice of termination
Employee: [minimum per NES, typically 1–4 weeks based on service]
Employer: [minimum per NES + any additional]
Summary termination for serious misconduct: no notice

### 7. Probation
Probation period: [3 / 6] months from start date.
During probation, notice may be [1 week on either side].

### 8. Confidentiality
Standard clause covering trade secrets, client information, pricing, internal systems. Survives termination.

### 9. Intellectual property
Work product during employment belongs to the employer. Pre-existing IP remains the employee's.

### 10. Restraint of trade
[If applicable — state-specific enforceability varies; NSW enforces reasonable restraints more strictly than Victoria. Keep clauses narrow in time and geography. For most non-executive roles, a restraint longer than 6 months is hard to enforce.]

### 11. Governing law
Governed by the laws of [State], Australia.

### 12. Entire agreement
This agreement and any incorporated documents (award, policies) are the entire agreement. Variations must be in writing.

### Signatures
Employer: _______________ Date: _______
Employee: _______________ Date: _______

### Attachments
- Fair Work Information Statement (current version)
- Casual Employment Information Statement (if casual)
- [Applicable modern award reference]
- [Position description]

Contractor-vs-employee test (sham contracting risk)

Under the Fair Work Act and recent ATO/Fair Work decisions, the test for genuine contractor status is substance-over-form. A worker is likely an EMPLOYEE (regardless of what the contract says) if:

• They're paid by the hour / day (rather than for a defined outcome)
• They use the business's tools, uniforms, vehicles, systems
• They're integrated into the business's operations (not running their own)
• They can't easily work for other clients (exclusivity)
• They don't bear commercial risk (no right to profit, no risk of loss)
• They receive directions on how, when, where to do the work
• They have no separate business identity (no ABN, no insurance, no business name)

Sham contracting penalties: up to $21,840 per contravention for individuals, and $109,200 for companies with fewer than 15 employees or $546,000 for larger companies, plus back-pay of entitlements the worker should have received as an employee.

If in doubt, err toward employee and treat accordingly.

Award identification

If you can't confidently name the award, ask the Fair Work Commission's Awards search. Common awards for SMEs:

• Retail: General Retail Industry Award 2020
• Hospitality: Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020
• Restaurant: Restaurant Industry Award 2020
• Clerical: Clerks — Private Sector Award 2020
• Professional services: Professional Employees Award 2020
• Building/construction: Building and Construction General On-site Award 2020
• Healthcare: Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020

Some awards have overlapping coverage — e.g., an admin person in a restaurant might be covered by either Clerks or Restaurant. Get advice for edge cases.

Restraint of trade

Restraint clauses (non-compete, non-solicit) are enforceable only if:

• They protect a legitimate interest (client connections, confidential info, staff)
• They're reasonable in scope (time, geography, activity)
• Public policy doesn't override them

Rough practical guides (these are not legal advice):

• Non-solicit of clients: usually enforceable for 6–12 months post-termination
• Non-solicit of staff: similar duration
• Non-compete (outright bar on working in the industry): rarely enforceable beyond 6 months for non-executives; difficult at any duration for low-skilled roles

Victoria has the strictest restraint-enforcement regime; NSW is more willing to read down (sever) overly broad restraints; other states vary.

Output format

Per request:

1. Full employment contract — Word / PDF-ready Markdown
2. Attachments list — Fair Work Info Statement, Casual Info Statement (where relevant), award reference, position description
3. New-hire onboarding checklist — payroll setup, super, TFN, Fair Work acknowledgement, welcome pack
4. Red flags — anything non-standard (e.g. trying to fit a regular pattern into a casual contract, or a non-compete clause that's likely unenforceable)

What this skill does NOT do

• Replace a lawyer. For anything non-standard (executive, equity-eligible, cross-border, unusual restraint), get legal review.
• Handle industrial relations negotiations. If you're in a dispute, EA negotiation, or union matter, that's IR advice territory.
• Payroll setup. STP, super, TFN lodgement are separate workflows.
• Fair Work Information Statements content. These are mandated government documents — attach the current version from fairwork.gov.au; don't paraphrase.

Tier access

Pro. Contract-quality work directly affects legal exposure; the skill's value compounds across every hire. Base-tier members get the template framework; Pro adds red-flag review, award identification help, and a review cycle before signing.

Related skills

• fair-work-compliance (upstream) — confirms the business is Fair Work-compliant overall before hiring
• au-privacy-act-compliance-audit — new-hire data collection flows into the privacy posture
• privacy-policy-generator-au — employee privacy notice often part of the onboarding pack

References

• Fair Work Ombudsman — National Employment Standards
• Fair Work — Find my award
• Fair Work — Fair Work Information Statement
• Fair Work — Casual Employment Information Statement
• Fair Work — Independent contractors