Australia employment compliance in 2026

Government PPL is paid at the national minimum wage rate. It is funded by the Commonwealth, not the employer. Employers are not required to top it up, though many do via enterprise agreements or policy.

Australia's unfair dismissal framework differs from the UK in two important ways. First, the qualifying period is shorter. Second, there is a distinct small-business threshold that doubles the qualifying period.

The dual-threshold rule

• 15 or more employees: protection begins after 6 months of continuous service.
• Fewer than 15 employees: protection begins after 12 months of continuous service, and the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code applies.

The compensation cap is the lesser of 26 weeks of remuneration or A$ 91,550. This cap updates on 1 July each year when the Fair Work Commission sets the new high income threshold. The figure above reflects the 2025-26 rate.

Dismissal from day one

The qualifying period applies only to unfair dismissal. Two categories of claim apply from the first day of employment:

• General protections (adverse action): employees cannot be dismissed for exercising a workplace right, or for reasons including union membership, filing a complaint, or making an inquiry about entitlements.
• Discrimination: dismissal on the basis of a protected attribute is unlawful from day one, regardless of service length.

General protections claims are not capped. They are often more strategically attractive to claimants than unfair dismissal, and they apply during the qualifying period window when unfair dismissal is not yet available.

The four main federal discrimination statutes in Australia:

• Age Discrimination Act 2004
• Disability Discrimination Act 1992
• Racial Discrimination Act 1975
• Sex Discrimination Act 1984

The Fair Work Act also prohibits adverse action based on protected attributes, including race, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion, pregnancy, and union membership.

Key features of Australian discrimination law

• No qualifying period. Discrimination claims apply from the job advertisement stage through every phase of employment, including post-termination references.
• No compensation cap. Federal and state discrimination courts can award unlimited compensation. This is a material exposure compared with the capped unfair dismissal regime.
• State and territory laws stack. Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland each have their own anti-discrimination statutes with additional grounds and different complaint pathways. Claims can be filed under federal or state law, or both.
• Reverse onus in some contexts. Under the general protections provisions of the Fair Work Act, once a claimant establishes they took a protected action and were dismissed or disadvantaged, the burden shifts to the employer to prove the action was not taken for a prohibited reason.

Every Australian HR process must be auditable against the protected attributes. Recruitment, performance management, promotion, and termination are all in scope. Teamed's standard procedures build discrimination-risk review into each stage.

For private-sector employers, the relevant framework is Part 9.4AAA of the Corporations Act 2001. A disclosure qualifies for protection if:

• It is made by an eligible whistleblower (current or former officer, employee, contractor, or their associates)
• It is made to an eligible recipient (the company, an auditor, ASIC, APRA, the ATO, or a legal practitioner)
• The whistleblower has reasonable grounds to suspect a contravention of a listed law (Corporations Act, ASIC Act, banking or insurance legislation, or tax laws)
• The disclosure is not made solely in pursuit of a personal grievance

Protections include immunity from civil, criminal, and administrative liability. Victimisation of a whistleblower is itself an offence, and courts may award compensation and injunctive relief.

Employer obligations

Entities regulated by ASIC and entities with annual turnover above AUD 10 million must have a whistleblower policy in place. The policy must cover how to make a disclosure, how disclosures are investigated, and how the whistleblower's identity is protected. Failure to have a compliant policy is a breach of the Corporations Act.

For tax-related disclosures, a parallel regime under Part IVD of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 applies, with the ATO as the receiving authority.

Practical implications for employers in Australia:

• Privacy notice (Collection notice). Employers must notify employees at or before the time personal information is collected, explaining what is collected, why, and how it may be disclosed. This includes information collected at recruitment.
• Lawful purpose. Personal information may only be used or disclosed for the purpose for which it was collected, or a directly related purpose, unless an exception applies.
• Access requests. Employees have the right to request access to their personal information. Responses must be provided within 30 days. Employers may charge a reasonable fee for access but may not charge for making the request.
• Data breach notification. Under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, eligible data breaches must be reported to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) and affected individuals as soon as practicable (typically within 30 days of becoming aware).
• International data transfers. Employers sending employee data overseas must either take reasonable steps to ensure the overseas recipient complies with the APPs, or obtain explicit consent from the employee.

The Privacy Act threshold of AUD 3 million annual turnover means some small Australian businesses are outside the federal scheme. State and territory privacy laws may still apply, and many modern awards include express terms about employee records and privacy.

For US or UK-headquartered businesses sending Australian employee data offshore: an APP 8 cross-border disclosure assessment is required before any personal information leaves Australia. Teamed handles the data processing agreement as part of the EOR service.

Three frameworks shape worker representation in Australia:

• Modern awards. Industry or occupation-based minimum standards set by the Fair Work Commission. Awards sit above the NES and apply to employees not covered by an enterprise agreement. There are over 100 modern awards covering different industries and occupations.
• Enterprise agreements. Negotiated collectively between an employer and its employees (with or without a union). They must pass the Better Off Overall Test (BOOT): every employee covered must be better off under the agreement than under the applicable modern award.
• Right of entry. Under the Fair Work Act, registered union officials have statutory rights to enter workplaces to hold discussions, investigate suspected breaches, or conduct safety inspections, subject to permit and notice requirements.

Modern award coverage and EOR implications

When you hire an employee in Australia through an EOR, the applicable modern award must be identified at the time of hire. Award rates set minimum pay, overtime, penalty rates, and allowances. The EOR is responsible for identifying the correct award and ensuring the employment contract meets or exceeds award conditions.

Enterprise agreement obligations do not transfer automatically between employers in the same way as TUPE in the UK. Employees on enterprise agreements moving to a new employer (including an EOR transition) are typically brought onto a new contract at award rates or better, not automatically onto the prior enterprise agreement.

Real HR and legal experts manage your Australian hires from the first offer letter through every superannuation remittance, Single Touch Payroll submission, and year-end payment summary. An actual person, not a pooled queue or a chatbot. There is no setup fee and no exit fee. Employer cost passes through at cost, itemised on every invoice.

Teamed identifies the correct modern award at the point of hire, builds the employment contract to meet NES and award minimums, and tracks changes to the Superannuation Guarantee rate and PPL entitlements. The July 2026 PPL expansion is already reflected in Teamed's onboarding and payroll models for Australian employees.

You can use Teamed for a single Australian hire and graduate to a direct entity when scale makes that worthwhile. EOR is a real employment structure, not a workaround that gets complicated until it isn't. We make the transition straightforward when you're ready.

Key sources: Fair Work Ombudsman, Fair Work Commission, and Australian Taxation Office.

1. Identify the correct modern award

   Before making an offer, the applicable modern award must be confirmed for the employee's industry and occupation. Award rates set the minimum pay and conditions floor.

2. Draft an NES-compliant contract

   The employment contract must meet or exceed all National Employment Standards. Any term that purports to exclude an NES entitlement is not valid.

3. Register for Single Touch Payroll

   Australian employers must report payroll information to the ATO in real time through Single Touch Payroll on or before each pay day.

4. Set up Superannuation Guarantee payments

   Employers pay the Superannuation Guarantee rate on ordinary time earnings into the employee's nominated superannuation fund, at least quarterly.

5. Issue privacy and whistleblowing policies

   Entities above the AUD 3 million turnover threshold must issue a privacy collection notice at hire. Entities regulated by ASIC must maintain a compliant whistleblower policy.