# NES termination entitlements: notice and redundancy pay

*Benchmarking hypothetical, not legal advice. Law as at FY2025-26 (Commonwealth).*

## Controlling law

The entitlements sit in the **National Employment Standards** in the **Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)**:

- Minimum notice of termination: **s 117** of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).
- Redundancy pay: **s 119** of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).

Both apply here because the employer is a national-system employer and is **not a small business employer** (a small business employer would be exempt from redundancy pay under s 121(1)(b)).

## The facts that drive the scales

- Continuous service: **6 years**.
- Age: **under 45**.
- The position is **genuinely redundant**, and the employer **pays out the notice** rather than having the employee work it (payment in lieu of notice).

## (a) Minimum notice of termination - **4 weeks**

The s 117(3) notice scale runs on the employee's period of continuous service with the employer as at the day the notice is given:

| Continuous service | Notice |
|---|---|
| Not more than 1 year | 1 week |
| More than 1 year, not more than 3 years | 2 weeks |
| More than 3 years, not more than 5 years | 3 weeks |
| **More than 5 years** | **4 weeks** |

6 years of service is "more than 5 years", so the base notice is **4 weeks**.

There is an additional **1 week** under s 117(3)(b), but only where the employee **is over 45 years old** and has at least 2 years of continuous service. This employee is **under 45**, so the extra week does **not** apply.

**Minimum notice owed = 4 weeks.**

Paying out the notice does not reduce this figure. Under s 117(2), the employer can pay in lieu instead of having the employee work the notice, but the payment in lieu must be at least the amount the employee would have received for the full notice period - so the entitlement is still measured at 4 weeks of pay.

## (b) Redundancy pay - **11 weeks of base pay**

The s 119(2) redundancy pay scale also runs on the employee's period of continuous service, and is paid at the employee's **base rate of pay** for the listed number of weeks:

| Continuous service | Redundancy pay |
|---|---|
| At least 1 year but less than 2 years | 4 weeks |
| At least 2 years but less than 3 years | 6 weeks |
| At least 3 years but less than 4 years | 7 weeks |
| At least 4 years but less than 5 years | 8 weeks |
| At least 5 years but less than 6 years | 10 weeks |
| **At least 6 years but less than 7 years** | **11 weeks** |
| At least 7 years but less than 8 years | 13 weeks |
| At least 8 years but less than 9 years | 14 weeks |
| At least 9 years but less than 10 years | 16 weeks |
| At least 10 years | 12 weeks |

6 years of service falls in the "at least 6 years but less than 7 years" band, so redundancy pay is **11 weeks** of base pay.

(The genuine redundancy is what triggers the s 119 entitlement in the first place: s 119(1)(a) covers termination because the employer no longer requires the job to be performed by anyone. The 10-weeks-at-10-years drop in the table is a feature of the Act's scale, not relevant here.)

## Answer

- **(a) Minimum notice of termination = 4 weeks** (Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) s 117).
- **(b) Redundancy pay = 11 weeks of base pay** (Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) s 119).

Controlling Act: **Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)**; controlling sections: **s 117** (notice) and **s 119** (redundancy pay).

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### Note on approach

I treated this as a clean two-scale lookup against the National Employment Standards in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), keyed on the two facts that move the scales: 6 years of continuous service, and age under 45.

1. **Notice (s 117):** read the period of service against the s 117(3) table. 6 years > 5 years gives a base of 4 weeks. I then checked the s 117(3)(b) over-45 loading - it adds a week only when the employee is over 45 with 2+ years' service; here the employee is under 45, so it does not apply. I also confirmed that paying out the notice (payment in lieu, s 117(2)) does not change the quantum - it must equal what the employee would have been paid for the notice period.
2. **Redundancy pay (s 119):** read the period of service against the s 119(2) table. 6 years lands in the "at least 6 but less than 7 years" band = 11 weeks, paid at the base rate of pay. I confirmed the s 121 small-business exemption is not engaged because the stated employer is not a small business employer, so the s 119 entitlement stands.

The two scales are independent (notice runs in bands that top out at "more than 5 years = 4 weeks"; redundancy pay runs in finer one-year bands), which is why the same 6 years of service produces 4 weeks of notice but 11 weeks of redundancy pay.