Ending employment under the Building and Construction Award

Crane and cement truck

There are specific rules for ending employment under the Building and Construction Award.

On this page:

Important: Electricians, plumbers and other trades

This page has information on the Building and Construction Award.

Electricians, plumbers, landscapers and other labourers may be covered by another award.

For pay and entitlement information, follow our steps to check pay and award rules.

When employment ends

Employment can end when an:

  • employer dismisses an employee, or
  • employee resigns.

The ending employment rules under the Building and Construction Award are different to most awards. This is because the Building and Construction Award has:

Industry-specific redundancy

The Building and Construction Award has its own industry-specific redundancy scheme that applies instead of the National Employment Standards (NES).

This means the Building and Construction Award has different rules about:

  • when a redundancy happens
  • who the redundancy rules apply to
  • how much redundancy pay need to be paid.

The industry-specific redundancy scheme also means an employee’s redundancy pay can come from a redundancy pay scheme if the employer makes contributions to one.

When redundancy must be paid

Under the Building and Construction Award, an employee is made redundant when the employee is:

These rules also apply to small business employers and their employees.

Redundancy isn’t paid if the employee is dismissed because of:

  • misconduct, or
  • refusal of duty.

Apprentices don’t get redundancy when their employment ends:

  • during their apprenticeship, or
  • at the end of their apprenticeship.

Example: Redundancy entitlements for an employee

Gary worked as a labourer for a small construction project business for 11 months. He was covered by the Building and Construction Award.

Gary’s role was made redundant as the project finished.

The industry-specific redundancy scheme in the Building and Construction Award entitles Gary to redundancy pay, even though he has worked less than a year.

Gary uses the Pay and Conditions Tool to calculate how much he is entitled to. Based on his 11 months of service, the tool says Gary is entitled to 82.25 hours of redundancy pay.

When notice must be given

Employers and employees may need to give notice when they end the employment relationship.

There are different notice requirements depending on whether the employee is a:

Casual employees aren’t required to give notice of their resignation or be given notice of dismissal when their employment ends.

Apprentices have different notice and ending employment rules. For more information, see Ending an apprenticeship.

Weekly hire employees

The usual notice requirements apply to part-time or full-time weekly hire employees. The amount of notice required is based on the employee’s continuous service with the employer.

When dismissing an employee, employers must give the minimum notice period set out in the NES.

If an employee is resigning, they must give the minimum notice period set out in the Building and Construction Award.

Find more information on minimum notice periods at:

Select ‘building, construction and on-site trades’ in our industry filter to get tailored advice.

Daily hire employees

Resigning or dismissing a daily hire employee only requires one day’s notice.

Notice can be given at or before the start of the employee’s last day of work.

Example: Notice of termination for a daily hire employee

Michelle runs a residential construction company. Jeff works for the business as a labourer. He was hired as a daily hire employee under the Building and Construction Award.

Michelle is looking to terminate Jeff’s employment. Different rules apply depending on when she gives him notice, including:

  • before work starts, or
  • during work.

Giving notice before work starts

When Jeff gets to work the next day, Michelle takes him aside for a chat.

Michelle gives Jeff notice that his employment is ending. Because she gave him notice at the start of the work day, his employment will end at the end of the shift.

Michelle gives Jeff an hour at the end of the day to clean and pack his tools.

Giving notice during work

After lunch, Michelle takes Jeff aside for a chat. Michelle gives Jeff notice that his employment is ending. Because she gave him notice after the shift has started, he will finish up at the end of the next shift.

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How to use this information

We have tips to help you work out ending employment entitlements and obligations.

Find out how to:

Calculate minimum notice periods and redundancy pay

If an award applies, use our pay tools to work out entitlements.

Calculate how much notice and redundancy pay is required with our Notice and Redundancy Calculator.

Check final pay entitlements

Final pay is what an employer owes an employee when their employment ends.

Check what entitlements need to be paid, and when final pay needs to be paid, at Final pay.

Find tailored information for your industry

Use our industry filters to find tailored information about ending employment. This includes under the Building and Construction Award.

Go to the pages below and select the ‘building, construction and on-site trades’ industry from the drop-down menu:

Download free templates

You can download free and fillable ending employment templates. Our templates cover:

  • letters of termination
  • redundancy
  • letters of resignation.

Access a full list at Templates.

Fix a workplace problem

If there’s an issue with pay, an employee or employer should speak to the other person in the first instance. This is often the simplest and most effective way to resolve issues.

We recommend:

If a small business employer has a workplace problem, they may be able to access free and tailored written advice from our Employer Advisory Service. Find out more: Employer Advisory Service.

We can’t help with unfair dismissal claims. Find out more about where to get help at Unfair dismissal.

Tools and resources

Related information