# AUSFA-0007 — National Employment Standards minimums (FY2025-26)

**Controlling Act:** *Fair Work Act 2009* (Cth).

This answer draws on the **National Employment Standards (NES)** in Part 2-2 of that Act. The NES set minimum entitlements for national-system employees (including full-time employees). Figures below are the standard NES minima as commonly applied for FY2025-26; this is a benchmarking hypothetical, not legal advice.

## Answers

| Minimum | Value |
|--------|------:|
| Paid annual leave per year (full-time, non-shiftworker) | **4** weeks |
| Maximum ordinary weekly hours (full-time) | **38** hours |

## Working

### 1. Paid annual leave — **4 weeks**

Under the NES division on annual leave, a full-time employee who is **not** a shiftworker accrues **four weeks** of paid annual leave for each year of service. That entitlement is expressed as a whole number of weeks per year, which is why the answer is **4** (not a fraction).

Shiftworkers have a higher minimum (five weeks). The task asks for the usual full-time minimum, which is four weeks.

### 2. Maximum ordinary weekly hours — **38**

Under the NES division on hours of work, the ordinary-hours framework for a **full-time** employee is centred on **38 hours** per week. That figure is the standard cap on ordinary weekly hours for full-time national-system employees before additional hours must be assessed against the reasonableness criteria in the same part of the Act. Part-time employees are pro-rated; the question specifies full-time.

### Controlling legislation

Both minima come from the **National Employment Standards** embedded in the ***Fair Work Act 2009* (Cth)** — not from a separate Act.

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## Approach

No `inputs/` materials were present in the task directory. This was a closed-book response from the statutory NES framework described in the prompt (*Fair Work Act 2009* (Cth)): annual leave at four weeks for a standard full-time employee, and 38 hours as the full-time ordinary weekly hours benchmark under the maximum-hours NES.