They called it redundancy but my work continues: what should I check?

Three questions: was the job removed, was the process followed, and what is owed?

Calling a dismissal “redundancy” does not settle its legality or the payment. For a genuine redundancy under the national system, the employer must no longer need anyone to perform your job because of operational changes, follow consultation duties in the applicable award or enterprise agreement, and have no reasonable redeployment available within its business or an associated entity. Your tasks can be distributed among remaining workers while your job genuinely disappears. A replacement vacancy doing substantially the same job raises a different factual question, but neither observation alone proves the outcome.

A genuine redundancy prevents an unfair-dismissal remedy on that basis; it does not automatically remove notice, annual leave or redundancy pay. Conversely, paying redundancy money does not by itself prove the dismissal was genuine.

Who normally qualifies for NES redundancy pay?

The usual starting point is a national-system employee with at least 12 months' continuous service whose employer is not a small business. Most employees with under 12 months' service, casuals, apprentices, trainees engaged only for their training arrangement, and employees engaged for a specified period, project or season are excluded from NES redundancy pay. Industry-specific award schemes and enterprise agreements must also be checked; they can have different coverage.

Most employers with fewer than 15 employees are exempt from NES redundancy pay. Count people, not full-time-equivalent positions: include full-time and part-time employees, the workers being dismissed, regular and systematic casuals, and employees of associated entities. Record the count at notice and termination rather than counting only your team. Industry-specific schemes can cover small businesses. Special insolvency/liquidation downsizing rules can preserve payment obligations after an employer drops below 15. A business-transfer exception also needs its own assessment.

The NES weeks by continuous service

For an eligible employee without a different industry-specific scheme, use the schedule below. At least 10 years' service gives 12 weeks, not 16: the NES schedule deliberately drops at that boundary. Do not extrapolate a steady “one more year, one more week” rule.

Unpaid leave generally does not count towards the service used for redundancy pay, although it does not itself break continuity. Check leave periods and any recognised service following a business transfer before selecting a row. The formula is redundancy weeks × weekly base pay for ordinary hours. NES base pay excludes loadings, allowances, overtime, penalty rates and incentive payments. More generous agreement or contractual entitlements require their own comparison.

Complete example: three and a half years of service

Assume a permanent national-system employee has 3.5 years of counted continuous service, works 38 ordinary hours a week at a base rate of A$30, and is made redundant by an employer with 25 employees. No industry-specific scheme, transfer exclusion or Commission reduction applies. The NES schedule gives 7 weeks. Weekly base pay = 38 × A$30 = A$1,140; redundancy pay = 7 × A$1,140 = A$7,980 gross.

Assume the employee is 35, entitled to three weeks' employer notice, and is dismissed immediately with all notice paid out. With no additional full-rate components, notice pay is 3 × A$1,140 = A$3,420. These are separate items: A$7,980 + A$3,420 = A$11,400 before tax, plus any unpaid wages and unused annual leave. If the full rate includes other applicable payments, the notice line changes even though the redundancy base line may not. The A$30 rate is hypothetical.

Redeployment is not the same as an automatic right to remove the payment

Ask which available roles inside the employer and associated entities were considered, their duties, pay, hours, location and training needs, and why redeployment was said to be unreasonable. Ask for the actual job details before deciding whether to accept. The reasonableness of redeployment concerns genuine redundancy; it is not the same test as reducing a payment.

Where the redundancy entitlement comes from the NES, an employer can apply to the Fair Work Commission to reduce it because the employer obtained other acceptable employment for you or cannot pay the full amount. A job lead or “we cannot afford it” statement is not itself a Commission order. Ask for any reduction application and decision. Separate business-transfer exceptions can operate without that reduction process, so check them if another employer offers to take you on. This NES reduction route does not apply to an entitlement arising from an award or enterprise agreement.

Ask for the business case, alternatives and itemised figures

Retain the announcement, your job description, consultation correspondence, lawful public replacement advertisements, service dates, payslips and leave balances. Ask to be accompanied by a representative if you want one during consultation. Use this request: “Please confirm the operational change that removes my job, the consultation clause being followed, and the roles considered for redeployment within this business and associated entities. Please give the proposed end date and separately show counted service, redundancy weeks and base pay, notice or notice pay, unused annual leave and the payment date for each. If an exemption or reduction is relied on, please identify it and provide any Commission decision.”

Do not copy colleagues' private records or confidential business files to try to prove a headcount. Ask for the employer's calculation and record what you lawfully know.

Which agency and deadline apply to your dispute?

For a missing or incorrect minimum redundancy payment, send the employer the itemised difference and ask FWO for workplace-problem assistance if it remains unresolved. FWO explains minimum entitlements; it does not decide whether your dismissal was a genuine redundancy.

If you say the redundancy was not genuine and you meet unfair-dismissal eligibility, the Fair Work Commission is the dismissal route: lodge within 21 days after the dismissal takes effect. Do not wait for the final-pay dispute to end. A prohibited reason, such as retaliation for using a workplace right or discrimination, can instead raise a general-protections dismissal question, also with a 21-day filing period. Choose the correct dismissal application rather than filing competing types for the same dismissal. Even if service is too short for unfair dismissal, that does not itself rule out a prohibited-reason claim.

Need to take the next step?

Continue with related questions