Oceania

Australia

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Employer of Record (EOR) in Australia

What you'll learn

  • Country Introduction
  • Employment Terms
  • Minimum Wage and Working Hours
  • Statutory Leave Laws
  • Termination Process
  • Additional Information
Australia Introduction

Australia is the largest country in the Oceania region and the sixth-largest country in the world. Its size gives it a wide variety of climates and landscapes, with lots of desert, tropical rainforests, and mountain ranges.

Australia is a highly developed country and ranks amongst the highest in the world for quality of life, health, education, democracy, economic freedom, civil liberties, political rights, and safety. Employees in Australia have what’s called a superannuation fund, which is an an employment-funded pension that they can access after retiring from work.

Employment Terms

The minimum wage in Australia is $21.38 AUD per hour and $812.44 per week. The standard working hours are 38 hours per week but and any work past 38 hours in a week is considered overtime.

Types of Leave

Parental Leave

Paid maternity leave in Australia is managed by the government. Employees who become the primary carer of a newborn or adopted child can take up to 18 weeks paid leave at the national minimum wage. Employees can also apply to the Federal Government scheme for additional leave. Partners of employees who give birth are eligible for 2 weeks of paid leave at the national minimum wage, paid for by the Australian government.

Employees in Australia may also take up to two years of unpaid parental leave, broken into two 12-month periods (this leave may be used by either parent). They also have a legislated right to return to the job they had. To be eligible, the employee must have worked for the company for at least 12 months prior to the birth or adoption.

Sick Leave

Employees in Australia can take 10 days of paid sick leave per year — this leave can be taken if the employee is sick or if they need to take care of a sick family member.

Paid Leave

Full-time employees in Australia are entitled to 4 weeks of paid time off each year, and shift workers receive an additional week for a total of 5 weeks off per year. Workers can also become eligible for other types of leave, including bereavement, jury duty, long service leave, and more.

Termination Process

Process

An employer in Australia can only terminate an employee after providing written notice. After that the employer can choose to have the employee work through the notice period, or provide a payment for that time in lieu of notice.

Termination notice requirements in Australia vary depending on the number of employees the company has, the classification of the employee, and the length of time the employee has worked for the company.

Notice Period

The notice period for terminating an employee in Australia depends on how long the employee has worked at the company. Employees above the age of 45 who have been employed at the company for at least 2 years are also entitled to an additional week’s notice.

  • Less than 1 year = 1 week notice
  • 1-3 years = 2 weeks notice
  • 3-5 years = 3 weeks notice
  • 5+ years = 4 weeks notice

Severance Pay

Severance pay in Australia is paid out depending on the number of years the employee has worked at the company. Employees who have worked at a company for less than one year are not entitled to severance pay.

  • 1-2 years = 4 weeks of severance pay
  • 2-3 years = 6 weeks of severance pay
  • 3-4 years = 7 weeks of severance pay
  • 4-5 years = 8 weeks of severance pay
  • 5-6 years = 10 weeks of severance pay
  • 6-7 years = 11 weeks of severance pay
  • 7-8 years = 13 weeks of severance pay
  • 8-9 years = 14 weeks of severance pay
  • 9-10 years = 16 weeks of severance pay
  • 10+ years = 12 weeks of severance pay

Additional Information

In Australia, few employers offer supplemental health insurance to employees due to the country having a robust public health system. Employees in Australia also have a superannuation fund, which is an employment-funded pension plan that they can access after retiring. Employers are mandated to contribute to this fund for their employees at a rate of 10% of the salary. Additional employee contributions are allowed, but not required.

As of 2023, employers in Australia are required to consider every employee’s request for flexible work, and they can only refuse it if there is a valid reason and they discuss it with the employee.

OVERVIEW
Language(s):
English
Currency:
Australian Dollar (AUD)
Capital City:
Canberra
Population:
26.1 Million
Cost of Living Rank:
12th
VAT (Valued Added Tax):
10%
Employer TaxES
15.85%
(estimated)

★  4.85% - State Payroll Tax

★  1% - Medicare

★  10% - Superannuation fund

Get Started in 3 Steps

1

Remote candidate

You've sourced a full-time employee or contractor located in a country where your company is not incorporated.

2

Cost Calculation

Pass us the details of your candidate and we will let you know exactly what it costs to employ your candidate in that country.

3

Onboarding & Admin

Sit back and relax as we onboard your new team member and take care of all the local compliances and admin work.

Same-day onboarding
Best Pricing
Available in 180+ countries
How Remofirst employs in Australia

It can be prohibitively expensive to establish an entity in every country you want to hire talent in, so Remofirst will hire and pay your employee on your behalf while you manage their daily duties. Remofirst will handle formal HR procedures and employment contracts that adhere to local laws, so that you can simply approve invoices via our platform. When you work with an Employer of Record (EOR) you can compliantly hire the best employees around the world.

How employees in Australia get paid
Your employee's hours, time off, holidays, bonuses, and commissions are automatically calculated into payroll. Remofirst will invoice you in either US Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), British Pounds (GBP), Canadian Dollars (CAD), Australian Dollars (AUD), or Singapore Dollars (SGD) around the 15th of each month to make sure your employees in Australia are paid on time in Australian Dollar (AUD). To make it even easier, you can summarize your entire global team's salaries to aggregate them into one payment (instead of many individual payments).
Full-time Employees vs Global Contractors

Unlike full-time employees, contractors work on projects with multiple companies at a given time and are technically self-employed. Full-time employees are solely focused on their employer and usually receive benefits (such as health insurance, equity or stock options, and time off) as an additional form of compensation. While it can be cheaper to work with international contractors instead of paying benefits to a full-time employee, you run the risk of misclassification. It's recommended to work with an EOR for contractor onboarding and payments, so you can know that your international contractors are paid compliantly and on time.

Dependable support for employees
Whenever the employee or employer has a question about benefits, Visas, or anything else related to international employment in Australia, they can speak with our customer support team to get answers from our team of experts.