Australia Termination Pay Calculator
Estimate final termination payments including payment in lieu of notice, unused annual leave, applicable leave loading and NES redundancy pay. Choose how the employment ended so the calculator applies the relevant components instead of automatically adding entitlements that may not apply.
Calculate estimated termination pay
For non-casual employees covered by the Australian national workplace system.
General informational estimate only. Fair Work entitlements can be affected by awards, enterprise agreements, contracts, employment type, transfer-of-business rules and the circumstances in which employment ended.
How the Australia termination pay calculator works
There is no single NES rate called “termination pay”. Final pay is normally assembled from separate employment entitlements. Which components apply depends on why the employment ended and what remains unpaid.
The calculator therefore asks how the employment ended before calculating the total. A resignation is treated differently from an employer dismissal, and a genuine redundancy can have an additional statutory redundancy component.
Notice
For an employer-initiated termination, the calculator determines the minimum NES notice period and includes only the portion that has not been worked.
Unused annual leave
Accumulated unused annual leave is paid when employment ends. The calculator uses the leave balance you enter.
Leave loading
Where annual leave loading would have applied had the employee taken the leave, it should also form part of the termination leave payment.
Redundancy
For an eligible genuine redundancy, the NES redundancy scale is calculated separately and added to the other applicable termination components.
Minimum notice of termination in Australia
The NES minimum notice period depends on the employee’s continuous service at the time notice is given. An additional week applies where the employee is over 45 years old and has completed at least 2 years of continuous service.
| Continuous service | Minimum notice |
|---|---|
| Not more than 1 year | 1 week |
| More than 1 year, not more than 3 years | 2 weeks |
| More than 3 years, not more than 5 years | 3 weeks |
| More than 5 years | 4 weeks |
Exact anniversaries matter. Exactly 1 year remains in the 1-week band. Exactly 3 years remains in the 2-week band, and exactly 5 years remains in the 3-week band. The next notice tier starts only once service moves beyond those points.
Why this calculator asks how much notice has already been worked
An employer may require an employee to work the notice period, pay the notice period in lieu, or use a combination. If the employee works the whole notice period, that period is normal employment rather than an additional notice lump sum.
For this reason, the calculator subtracts notice already worked and estimates payment in lieu only for the remaining minimum period.
Why notice uses a separate weekly-pay field
Payment in lieu of notice is based on the employee’s full rate of pay for the hours they would have worked during the notice period. That can differ from the base-rate calculation used for NES redundancy pay.
Termination, resignation and serious misconduct are not the same
The reason employment ended changes the calculation materially. The old approach of automatically adding employer notice to every final payment can overstate what is actually owed.
Employer-initiated termination
Where the employer dismisses an employee and no notice exemption applies, the employee generally receives the required notice period or payment in lieu for the unworked portion.
Employee resignation
A resignation does not create an employer NES notice payment. The employee may instead have their own obligation to provide notice under an award, enterprise agreement or employment contract. This calculator does not model deductions associated with an employee failing to provide required resignation notice.
Dismissal for serious misconduct
Employees dismissed for serious misconduct are generally excluded from the NES employer notice requirement. Unused annual leave already accrued may still need to be paid.
Genuine redundancy
A genuine redundancy can involve both notice and redundancy pay because they are separate entitlements. Selecting “Genuine redundancy” causes this calculator to test both components.
Unused annual leave when employment ends
When employment ends, accumulated unused annual leave must be paid out. The payment should be the amount the employee would have received if they had taken that period of annual leave while still employed.
That means annual leave loading or other applicable leave payments may also need to be included.
The 17.5% loading is not universal. The calculator defaults the optional loading-rate field to 17.5% because that is common in Australian awards, but only select it where the employee is actually entitled to loading, and change the percentage if their applicable entitlement differs.
Unused personal or carer’s leave
Unused paid personal or carer’s leave is generally not paid out when employment ends unless an award, agreement or contract provides a different entitlement.
Redundancy pay within the termination calculation
NES redundancy pay is a separate entitlement from notice and annual leave. Where genuine redundancy applies, the calculator uses the employee’s base rate for ordinary hours and applies the statutory service scale.
| Continuous service | Redundancy pay |
|---|---|
| Less than 1 year | No NES redundancy pay |
| 1 year to less than 2 years | 4 weeks |
| 2 years to less than 3 years | 6 weeks |
| 3 years to less than 4 years | 7 weeks |
| 4 years to less than 5 years | 8 weeks |
| 5 years to less than 6 years | 10 weeks |
| 6 years to less than 7 years | 11 weeks |
| 7 years to less than 8 years | 13 weeks |
| 8 years to less than 9 years | 14 weeks |
| 9 years to less than 10 years | 16 weeks |
| 10 years or more | 12 weeks |
For more detailed eligibility information, including the 10-year step-down and exceptions, use the Australia Redundancy Pay Calculator .
Small-business redundancy exemption
Most employers with fewer than 15 employees do not have to pay redundancy under the NES. Selecting the small-business option therefore removes the NES redundancy component but does not remove other applicable amounts such as annual leave or employer notice.
There are important exceptions. An award or enterprise agreement can contain an industry-specific redundancy scheme, and special rules can also apply where a business became small through downsizing.
Small business does not mean the entire final payment is zero. The exemption concerns the NES redundancy component. Other final-pay obligations must still be assessed separately.
Termination pay examples
Genuine redundancy
An employee has 4 years of service, $1,200 weekly base/full pay and 2 weeks of unused annual leave. No notice has been worked.
At exactly 4 years, NES notice is 3 weeks. Redundancy is 8 weeks.
$3,600 + $2,400 + $9,600 = $15,600Employee resignation
An employee resigns with 3 weeks of unused annual leave and base weekly pay of $1,000.
The calculator does not add employer notice or redundancy pay because the employment ended through resignation.
Unused annual leave = $3,00010+ year redundancy
An employee has 12 years of service, is over 45, has $1,500 weekly pay and 3 weeks of unused annual leave. All 5 notice weeks are paid in lieu.
Notice is 5 weeks and redundancy is 12 weeks because the 10-year step-down applies.
Before loading: $30,000What this termination calculator does not include
A real final-pay statement can contain amounts beyond the four components calculated above.
- Outstanding wages for work already performed.
- Long service leave or pro-rata long service leave.
- Accrued time off instead of overtime.
- Commissions, bonuses or other outstanding remuneration.
- Tax withheld from termination payments.
- Genuine-redundancy tax-free thresholds.
- Employment termination payment tax treatment.
- Superannuation consequences.
- Award or enterprise-agreement termination benefits.
- Contractual severance amounts above NES minimums.
- Deductions associated with insufficient resignation notice.
Where long service leave may be payable, use the Long Service Leave Calculator alongside this tool.
Common termination pay calculation mistakes
- ✕ Giving exactly 1 year of service 2 weeks of notice. The NES says not more than 1 year receives 1 week. The 2-week tier starts only after 1 year has been exceeded.
- ✕ Treating age 45 as automatically qualifying for the extra week. The statutory wording is over 45, together with at least 2 years of continuous service.
- ✕ Adding employer notice to a resignation. An employee resignation does not automatically create payment in lieu of notice from the employer.
- ✕ Paying notice at the redundancy base-rate figure without checking the employee’s full rate. Payment in lieu and redundancy do not necessarily use the same pay basis.
- ✕ Ignoring annual leave loading. If loading would have been payable when the annual leave was taken, it should generally be reflected in the unused-leave payout.
- ✕ Counting notice that was already worked as another lump-sum termination payment. Only the unworked notice portion is estimated as payment in lieu by this calculator.
Australia termination pay calculator FAQs
What should be included in final pay when employment ends?
Depending on the circumstances, final pay can include outstanding wages, payment in lieu of notice, unused annual leave, long service leave, accrued TOIL and redundancy pay. Not every component applies to every termination.
Is notice pay the same as redundancy pay?
No. They are separate entitlements. A genuine redundancy can involve both minimum notice and redundancy pay where the employee is eligible.
Does an employee receive employer notice pay when they resign?
Not simply because they resign. Employees can have their own obligation to give notice under an award, agreement or contract, but this is different from the employer’s NES notice obligation when the employer terminates employment.
Does unused annual leave have to be paid out?
Yes. Accumulated untaken annual leave must be paid when employment ends. The payment must reflect what the employee would have received if the leave had been taken.
Is annual leave loading paid when employment ends?
Where the employee would have received annual leave loading if they had taken the leave during employment, that loading generally needs to be included in the payout of unused annual leave.
Does unused sick leave get paid out?
Unused personal or carer’s leave is generally not paid out on termination unless a specific award, agreement or contract provides otherwise.
Do employees dismissed for serious misconduct receive notice pay?
Employees dismissed for serious misconduct are generally excluded from the NES notice requirement. Other amounts already accrued, including unused annual leave where applicable, still need to be considered.
How much notice does an employee over 45 receive?
An additional week is added where the employee is over 45 and has completed at least 2 years of continuous service. Their total therefore depends on the normal service-based notice tier.
Is long service leave included in this calculator?
No. Long service leave is a separate entitlement and can depend on state or territory legislation. Use the Australia Long Service Leave Calculator separately.
Does this calculator calculate tax?
No. Results are pre-tax estimates. Tax treatment can differ between ordinary termination payments, unused leave and genuine redundancy payments.
Official sources and calculation methodology
The calculator is based on current Fair Work minimum-entitlement rules rather than a proprietary termination-pay formula.
Primary sources
Rules reviewed September 2026. General information only; not legal, tax, payroll or employment advice.