Redundancy pay & entitlements
When an employee’s job is made redundant, their employer may need to pay them redundancy pay (also known as severance pay).
On this page:
Redundancy pay
Use our Notice and Redundancy Calculator to calculate redundancy pay.
Redundancy pay doesn't need to be paid in some circumstances, such as if the employer is a small businesses or the employee is a casual. To find out when redundancy doesn't need to be paid, visit Who doesn't get redundancy pay.
The amount of redundancy pay the employee gets is based on their continuous service with their employer. Continuous service is the length of time they're employed by the business and doesn't include periods of unpaid leave. Read about whether casual service counts for redundancy pay in our Library.
If you're covered by a registered agreement, check the terms of your agreement for information about how much redundancy needs to be paid out and other entitlements. To find a registered agreement, go to the Fair Work Commission website 
.
Find information about specific redundancy entitlements in your award by selecting from the list below.
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- Building, construction and on-site trades
- Clerical
- Contract cleaning services
- Don't know
- Hair and beauty
- Health support services
- Horticulture
- Hospitality
- Manufacturing
- Other
- Real estate
- Retail
- Road Transport
- Security
- Social, community, disability and home care services
- Storage services and wholesale
Employees who were made redundant before 31 December 2014 may have been entitled to more generous redundancy pay under an old award. If you think this may apply to you or for more information, Contact us.
Reducing redundancy pay
An employer can apply to the Fair Work Commission to have the amount of redundancy they have to pay reduced if:
- the employer finds other acceptable employment for the employee, or
- the employer can't afford the full redundancy amount.
For more information, check the application to vary redundancy pay form on the Fair Work Commission website .
Tools and resources
Related information
Think a mistake might have been made?
For employees:
If you’ve lost your job, contact the Fair Work Commission (the Commission) first if you think you were sacked because of:
- discrimination
- a reason that is harsh, unjust or unreasonable
- another protected right.
You have 21 days starting from the day after you were dismissed to lodge an application with the Fair Work Commission. Check the information at the Commission website to find out if you can apply for:
If you think you haven’t been paid everything you’re owed:
- read about Notice and final pay to find out what you should get
- see our Fixing a workplace problem section for practical advice on:
- talking to your employer about fixing your notice and final pay if it’s wrong
- getting help from us if you can’t resolve it.
For employers:
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