Notice of termination

When an employer dismisses an employee, they have to give them notice. The notice period
- starts the day after the employer tells the employee that they want to end the employment
- ends on the last day of employment.
An employer has to give the following minimum notice periods when dismissing an employee (see table below):
- An employee has to get an extra week of notice if they’re over 45 years old and have worked for the employer for at least 2 years

period of continuous service	≤45 years old	> 45 years old & completed 2 years of service
≤1 year	1 weeks	2 weeks
1-3 years	2 weeks	3 weeks
3-5 years	3 weeks	4 weeks
>5 years	4 weeks	5 weeks

How to give notice

Notice periods don’t apply to employees who:

are casual
are employed for a specific period of time or task (eg. a fixed term contract)
do seasonal work
are fired because of serious misconduct (eg. engaging in theft, fraud or assault)
have a training arrangement and are employed for a set period of time or for the length of the training arrangement (other than an apprentice)
are daily hire working in the building and construction or meat industry
are weekly hire working in connection with the meat industry and whose termination depends on seasonal factors.

An apprentice gets notice of termination, unless they're:

It can help to look at an employee’s employment contract to see if they’ve been employed for a set period of time or task.