Private sector employers and employees
Telephone: 1300 655 266
Mailing address
Locked Bag 100
East Perth WA 6892
This information is only relevant to employers and employees in the WA state industrial relations system.
When an employee resigns, the employee must give the employer notice of resignation. The required notice period is the number of hours, days or weeks:
The WA award summaries detail notice periods required by the relevant WA award.
If you do not know if a WA award applies to you, visit the Finding the right pay rate page for information on how to check WA award coverage.
Employees who work for a larger business or organisation, should also check whether an industrial agreement applies, which can be done by checking with the human resources or payroll area where you are employed.
There is no set definition of how much notice is 'reasonable', as this will depend on the circumstances. Through case law the courts have determined the following factors are relevant:
The employee is entitled to be paid for all hours / days worked up to the time of finishing in the job.
An employer is not permitted to make any deductions from the employee’s final pay if the employee does not give the employer the period of notice of resignation required by the WA award, agreement or contract or does not provide reasonable notice.
Employers and employees should note that some WA awards contain out of date provisions about deduction of wages when notice is not given that are of no effect as they have been overridden by the requirements of the Minimum Conditions of Employment Act.
A full time or part time employee is entitled to be paid out annual leave when employment ends. The Annual leave page has detailed information on annual leave entitlements when employment ends.
Under the WA Long Service Leave Act, after 7 years of continuous employment an employee may have an entitlement to payment of long service leave when their employment ends due to resignation. This entitlement applies to full time, part time and casual employees.
The Long service leave – what is the entitlement when employment ends page has comprehensive information and an explainer video on this topic.
There is no minimum entitlement for personal leave / sick leave to be paid out when an employee resigns.
An employee can request a separation certificate on resignation. A separation certificate is a written statement specifying the period of employment and the job classification or type of work performed.
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