Queensland employment law and what employers must do to stay compliant

Running a business in Queensland means running a compliant workplace, and the law here comes from two places at once. Most private employers answer to the federal Fair Work system, while a few specific rules, most importantly long service leave, come from Queensland's own legislation. Getting the split wrong is where the expense starts: the wrong award classification, a missed information statement, or an underpayment that compounds over years.

This guide sets out who the obligations apply to, the minimum standards you cannot contract out of, the duties that run through the life of the employment relationship, and the consequences of getting them wrong.

Which system covers your business

Most private sector employers in Queensland operate in the federal workplace relations system. Their core obligations come from the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), the National Employment Standards (NES) in Part 2-2 of that Act, and any applicable modern award or enterprise agreement. Queensland referred its private sector industrial relations powers to the Commonwealth from 2010, so the state system under the Industrial Relations Act 2016 (Qld) principally covers Queensland Government agencies, local government and other state public sector employers.

The practical split looks like this:

Federal system: most private companies, partnerships, sole traders and trusts, where the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), the NES, modern awards and enterprise agreements set the standards.
State system: Queensland Government and local government employment, regulated by the Industrial Relations Act 2016 (Qld).
Long service leave: a state entitlement that applies broadly in Queensland, including to national system employees.

One threshold changes several obligations. If you employ fewer than 15 employees, you are a small business employer for Fair Work purposes, which extends the unfair dismissal qualifying period to 12 months and changes some information statement milestones.

The National Employment Standards: the floor you cannot undercut

The NES is a set of minimum conditions in Part 2-2 of the Fair Work Act that no employment contract or enterprise agreement can displace. The standards cover maximum weekly hours (38 hours for a full-time employee, plus additional hours that must be reasonable under s 62 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)), requests for flexible working arrangements, casual employment, unpaid parental leave of up to 12 months with a right to request a further 12 months, four weeks' paid annual leave (five for some shiftworkers), paid personal and carer's leave of 10 days a year alongside compassionate leave and paid family and domestic violence leave, community service leave, long service leave, public holidays, superannuation contributions, notice of termination and redundancy pay, and the Fair Work Information Statement.

The standards matter in practice because they operate automatically. An employment contract that offers less annual leave than the NES, or that waives notice of termination, is unenforceable to that extent. The NES is the floor; contracts and awards can only build on it.

Long service leave: the rule that stays with Queensland

Long service leave is the exception to the federal story. Section 113 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) preserves state and territory long service leave laws, and modern awards are not allowed to deal with long service leave at all (s 155). In Queensland the entitlement comes from the Industrial Relations Act 2016 (Qld): an employee with 10 years' continuous service is entitled to 8.6667 weeks on full pay, with further accrual after a further five years, and a proportionate payment may be due when service ends after seven years in defined circumstances (s 95).

The practical point: a Brisbane employer with a national system workforce still has to track long service leave under Queensland law, on the state's accrual rates, even though everything else about the employment relationship is federal.

Modern awards and the classification step

Most employees in Queensland are covered by a modern award for their industry or occupation unless they are award free or covered by an enterprise agreement. The award sets the base pay rate, overtime and penalty rates, allowances, breaks and rostering rules. Two steps determine what you must pay: identify the right award for the role, then select the right classification level for the duties actually performed.

These two steps produce more underpayment disputes than almost anything else in small business employment. Underpayment liability is strict: an honest mistake about classification is still an underpayment, and unpaid amounts plus interest and penalties can accumulate quickly across a team.

Hiring: status, contracts and the two information statements

Start by choosing the right employment type. Full time and part time employees accrue paid leave; casuals receive a loading instead and have different conversion and notice rules. The label matters less than the reality: a role that is regular and systematic will not stay casual forever.

Give every new employee a written contract that records duties, hours, pay, leave, confidentiality, intellectual property and notice. A contract cannot undercut the NES or the applicable award, but it can resolve the day-to-day questions that otherwise become disputes.

Two documents are mandatory, not optional:

Fair Work Information Statement: give every new employee the FWIS before, or as soon as practicable after, they start, and not more than once in any 12 months (s 125).
Casual Employment Information Statement: give every casual employee the CEIS when they start, again at the six-month mark (unless you are a small business employer), and again at 12 months and at the end of each subsequent 12-month period (s 125B).

Payroll, superannuation and records

Once staff start, the running obligations begin. Register for PAYG withholding and report through Single Touch Payroll (STP) so the ATO sees wages and super as you pay them. Superannuation Guarantee contributions are due quarterly, with due dates in January, April, July and October, and the rate has been rising in steps: 11.5% for the 2024-25 financial year, 12% from 1 July 2025, and payday super, payment with each pay cycle, from 1 July 2026.

Keep accurate time and wage records and issue a payslip within one working day of each payment, as required by the Fair Work Regulations 2009 (Cth). Records should be kept for at least seven years. If the ATO or the Fair Work Ombudsman audits you, these records are your only real defence.

Work health and safety

Queensland applies the model Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld). If you are a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), s 19 imposes a primary duty of care: you must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of your workers and of anyone else affected by your work. That means providing a safe work environment, safe systems of work, safe plant and substances, adequate facilities, and the information, training and supervision people need. The duty follows the work: it applies on site, off site and when staff work from home in Queensland.

Where the regulator has approved a code of practice for a hazard, s 26A requires you to comply with the code or manage the risk to an equivalent or higher standard. Queensland also has industrial manslaughter as a standalone offence: s 34C carries up to 20 years' imprisonment for an individual, and up to 100,000 penalty units for a body corporate. WHS is the obligation where a serious breach stops being a compliance problem and becomes a criminal matter.

Discrimination, harassment and the positive duty

Discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation are prohibited under both Queensland and federal law. In Queensland the relevant statute is the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld); federally, the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) and the other federal discrimination Acts apply to most workplaces. Since December 2023 the Sex Discrimination Act has also imposed a positive duty on employers to take reasonable and proportionate measures to eliminate sex discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation as far as possible, and the regulator can investigate compliance with that duty without waiting for a complaint.

In practice this means written policies, training for managers and staff, and a complaints process that is actually used. A policy that sits in a drawer is not a defence; prompt, documented action on a complaint is.

Privacy and employee records

The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) generally applies to businesses with annual turnover above $3 million. Below that threshold a business is usually outside the Act unless it falls into one of the listed exceptions: health service providers, businesses that trade in personal information, Commonwealth contractors and a few others. Section 6D of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) sets the $3 million line. The Act has been in a period of reform since late 2024, so if you are unsure whether it covers your business, that is a quick question for a lawyer rather than a guess.

There is an employee records exemption for handling that relates directly to a current or former employment relationship and to an employee record (s 7B(3)). The exemption is narrower than it sounds: it does not cover a prospective employee's information collected before they are hired, and it does not cover selling a list of employees for marketing. If you collect customer data online as well as staff data, treat the Privacy Act as applying to that side of the business and publish a clear privacy policy.

Ending employment without a claim

Terminations are where compliance failures become claims. Under the NES you must give written notice of the day of termination, with a minimum notice period that grows with service, or pay in lieu (s 117 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)). Final pay must include all accrued entitlements, including accrued but untaken annual leave and long service leave.

Unfair dismissal protection applies once an employee has completed the minimum employment period: six months, or 12 months if you are a small business employer (s 383). A dismissal must not be harsh, unjust or unreasonable (s 385), and for small business employers it must be consistent with the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code. Genuine redundancy is a complete defence, but only if the redundancy is real, the consultation obligations in the award or agreement are met, and redeployment was considered. If you are restructuring, those are the three things to get advice on before you act.

The consequences of getting it wrong

None of this is theoretical:

Fair Work Ombudsman: can investigate, issue compliance notices and take court proceedings for underpayments, with back-pay orders and penalties on top of the wages owed.
WHS regulators: can issue improvement and prohibition notices, prosecute offences, and in Queensland pursue industrial manslaughter charges carrying up to 20 years' imprisonment.
Unfair dismissal: the Fair Work Commission can order reinstatement or compensation if a dismissal is found to be harsh, unjust or unreasonable.
Discrimination: complaints can go to the Queensland Human Rights Commission and QCAT, or to the federal commission, with compensation and other orders available.
Privacy: the OAIC can investigate and make determinations about breaches, and penalties apply for serious or repeated interference with privacy.

A practical compliance checklist

Run through these steps to close the common gaps:

Confirm the system: most private employers are national system employers; check anything unusual with a lawyer.
Identify the award and classification: for every role before anyone is paid, and review it when duties change.
Give every new employee the FWIS: and casuals the CEIS at start, at six months and at every 12-month mark.
Use written contracts: that reflect the real employment type and cannot undercut the NES or the award.
Set up PAYG, STP and quarterly super: at the correct rate, 12% from 1 July 2025.
Keep time and wage records: for at least seven years and issue payslips within one working day.
Apply the WHS duty: under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld), including for remote workers.
Maintain discrimination and harassment policies: train people in them and act promptly on complaints.
Track long service leave: on the Queensland accrual rates in the Industrial Relations Act 2016 (Qld).
Plan terminations: against notice, final pay, redundancy and unfair dismissal rules before you give the news.

Where a lawyer should be involved

Most of the day-to-day obligations are mechanical, and the guidance published by the Fair Work Ombudsman and the ATO covers them well. Advice earns its keep at the edges: identifying the correct award and classification for an unusual role, drafting employment contracts and workplace policies, structuring a genuine redundancy, responding to a WHS incident or regulator investigation, deciding whether the Privacy Act covers your business after the 2024 reforms, and defending or settling a claim. A lawyer can also run a quick compliance audit of pay rates, leave accrual and information statements before a problem surfaces, which is far cheaper than fixing an underpayment after a regulator finds it.

Start with the award, not the template

The most expensive compliance mistake for Queensland small businesses is paying people under the wrong award classification, because the error compounds silently across years of pay, leave and super before anyone notices. That is why the first action this week is not another policy: it is pulling out each position description and confirming the award and classification that applies to it, and checking that long service leave is being accrued on the Queensland rates from the Industrial Relations Act 2016 (Qld). Both are quick to verify, and both stop the two most common employment claims before they start.