As a TradieWife, you already know compliance is a big part of the job. Pay rates, super, leave, contracts. It never really stops. And the rules change often enough that what was right last year might not be right today.
Getting entitlements right matters for 2 reasons.
First, your team deserves to be paid correctly.
Second, getting it wrong is expensive. Underpayments have to be back paid, sometimes years later, & Fair Work penalties can be added on top. Most of the businesses I help who have found themselves in trouble didn’t set out to do the wrong thing. They just didn’t know. They are usually devastated that they have done the wrong thing without knowing.
So let’s walk through the entitlements every trade business needs to be across. Read all the way to the end, because there’s one that catches more trade businesses out than any other.
Start with the basics.
Most employees in Australia are covered by the National Employment Standards (NES). These are the minimum entitlements that apply to everyone. Things like annual leave, personal/carer’s leave, notice of termination & redundancy pay.
On top of the NES sits the award. Trade businesses are covered by their own awards (e.g. Building and Construction, Plumbers, Electrical, Vehicle). The award sets your minimum pay rates, allowances, overtime, penalty rates & more.
Here’s the bit people miss. Sometimes the award gives employees more than the NES entitlements. When that happens, the award overrides the NES. You can’t pick & choose the cheaper option.
The everyday entitlements to check:
- Pay rates. Minimum award rates went up 4.75% from 1 July 2026. If you haven’t reviewed your rates since then, do it this week. Even if you pay above award, the gap may have decreased or disappeared.
- Allowances. The construction awards are full of them. Industry allowance, tool allowance, travel, and meal allowances. These often apply on top of the hourly rate, and they’re a common source of underpayments.
- Super. Paid on time, every time, with the new Pay Day super rules.
- Leave. Annual leave and personal/carer’s leave accrue from day one for permanent employees. Long service leave is state-based and has its own quirks, especially in construction where portable schemes apply. And there are other types of leave you need to be aware of. And now for the big one.
- Redundancy. Under the NES, redundancy pay works like this. If you make a role redundant, the employee gets redundancy pay based on their years of service. But small businesses with fewer than 15 employees don’t have to pay NES redundancy pay at all.
Plenty of trade business owners know that exemption & assume it protects them. Here’s the problem: If your employees are covered by certain trade awards, it doesn’t. Several awards in the building and construction space have what’s called an industry-specific redundancy scheme. This includes the Building and Construction General On-site Award, the Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award and the Joinery and Building Trades Award. Not every trade award has one, though, so you need to check yours. Where the scheme applies, it overrides the NES in two important ways.
- One. There is no small business exemption. It doesn’t matter if you have two employees or twenty. If a role is made redundant, redundancy pay is owed under the award scheme. The amounts are different to the NES scale and are capped at 8 weeks, but you can’t avoid them by being a small business.
- Two. It’s not just for redundancies. This is the one that really catches people out. Under the award industry-specific redundancy schemes, redundancy pay is owed whenever employment ends for any reason other than misconduct. That includes when the employee resigns if they have been employed for more than 12 months.
Read that again.
Your carpenter with three years of service hands in his notice to resign, and you owe him redundancy pay on the way out. It feels wrong, but it’s how the scheme works. It was designed for an industry where jobs come and go with projects, and it’s been part of the award for a long time.
The amounts scale with service. Roughly 2.4 weeks’ pay after one year, to a maximum of 8 weeks’ pay at four or more years of service.
What to do with this info
First, check whether your award has an industry-specific redundancy scheme. If it does, budget for it. Every permanent employee who passes the 12-month mark is quietly accruing an entitlement you’ll pay when they leave, however they leave. And if you’re ever unsure whether an entitlement applies to your business, ask before you act, not after. A quick question now is a lot cheaper than a back payment later.
Need a hand working out what applies to your team? That’s exactly what I’m here for.
