If an employee is made redundant, the amount of redundancy pay they get depends on their period of continuous service.

Redundancy is a National Employment Standard (NES) entitlement. For information about the entitlement to redundancy, see Redundancy.

Continuous Service

Continuous service is the length of time an employee works for their employer, but it doesn't include some periods of unpaid leave or unauthorised absence.

An employee must have at least 12 months of continuous service to be entitled to redundancy pay under the NES. Some awards or agreements may allow a shorter period of service.

Less than 12 months continuous service

An employee has no entitlement to a redundancy under the NES if they:

• have less than 12 months continuous service with their employer
• were given notice of the redundancy before they had accrued 12 months continuous service with the employer.

The notice period won't count toward service for redundancy.

Continuous service and types of employment

For some types of employees, some periods of paid employment may not count towards redundancy.

For information on apprentice service, see Counting apprentice service for redundancy pay.

For information on service as a casual, see Does casual service count for redundancy pay and notice?

See also Who doesn't get redundancy pay.

Service before 1 January 2010

Service before 1 January 2010 counts for redundancy if an employee had an existing entitlement to redundancy pay under a:

• contract of employment
• pre-modern award, or
• registered agreement.

If an employee had no entitlement to redundancy pay before 1 January 2010, their service before this date won't count.

Notice period

A notice period will count toward an employee’s period of continuous service for calculating a redundancy if the employee:

• has worked for the employer for more than 12 months
• worked during their notice period.

An employee leaving during their notice period can affect their redundancy pay. Learn more at Redundancy pay and leaving during a notice period.

Pay in lieu of notice

If an employee gets paid instead of notice, the notice period doesn't count towards their continuous service. The employee's service ends on the day the employee is given notice.

Industry specific redundancy schemes

Some awards include industry specific redundancy scheme clauses, which apply instead of the NES redundancy provisions. The awards include:

• Building and Construction Award
• Plumbing Award
• Mobile Crane Award
• Dredging Award
• Black Coal Award.

For more information see:

• Notice of termination and redundancy pay
• Redundancy pay and entitlements
• Notice and Redundancy Calculator
• Redundancy pay in the Black Coal Award