Resignation notice under the SCHADS Award, a guide for community care employers

When a care worker resigns, the notice period is more than an administrative detail. In community, home care and disability services, those final weeks carry the handover of care plans, medication competencies and client relationships. Getting the resignation notice rules right under the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 (the SCHADS Award) decides whether that handover happens cleanly or whether you are left re-rostering shifts and chasing keys while a client is left without support.

This guide walks through how resignation notice actually works under the award: where the obligation comes from, who has to give notice, how much notice applies, what happens during the notice period, what you can do if an employee leaves without enough notice, and what must be in the final pay. It covers the award mechanics that matter to an employer running rosters, payroll and client safety on a day-to-day basis.

Where the resignation notice rule comes from

The SCHADS Award (registered as MA000100) is the modern award that sets minimum pay and conditions for employers in the crisis assistance and supported housing, social and community services, home care and family day care sectors, and their employees in the classifications listed in the award's schedules. In practice that covers most community sector and NDIS-funded disability support employers.

Resignation notice is not primarily a National Employment Standards (NES) question. The NES in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) set the notice an employer must give when it terminates employment: s 117 requires written notice of at least one to four weeks depending on the employee's continuous service, with an extra week for employees over 45 with at least two years' service. For the notice an employee must give when resigning, s 118 of the Act simply permits modern awards to set the period. The SCHADS Award does exactly that in clause 11.1, "Notice of termination by an employee", and that clause is the main rule you need to understand.

The actors in this scheme are straightforward. The employee resigns and the award fixes the minimum notice they must give. You, as the employer, administer that notice, manage the handover, and process the final pay. The Fair Work Commission made the award, and the Fair Work Ombudsman is the regulator that advises on and enforces the rules. Where the award is silent, your employment contract and policies fill the gap, provided they never undercut the award or the NES.

Who has to give notice under the award

The notice obligation in clause 11.1 applies to all employees except those excluded by s 123(1) and 123(3) of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). The exclusions that matter day to day are:

• Casual employees: Casuals are not required to give resignation notice under the award. The Fair Work Ombudsman confirms casuals do not have to give notice when they resign, although it is best practice for them to tell you their last day.
• Employees engaged for a specified period, task or season: A fixed-term worker who resigns early falls outside the award notice clause, so the contract terms are the starting point for what notice applies.
• Employees terminated for serious misconduct: This exclusion concerns employer-initiated termination rather than resignation, but it explains why the clause is drafted the way it is.

For everyone else, including full-time and part-time permanent employees, the award notice obligation applies when the employee decides to end the employment. Notice can be given verbally or in writing, although the Fair Work Ombudsman recommends written notice that states the last day. The notice period starts the day after notice is given and ends on the last day of employment.

A useful framing point: you cannot "accept" or "reject" a resignation. Once an employee resigns, the employment relationship is heading to an end, and your role is to manage the notice period and the exit properly rather than to approve the departure.

How much notice: the service-based table

Clause 11.1(b) of the award sets notice according to the employee's continuous service, in a table that mirrors the NES scale for employer notice:

Three points about how this operates in practice:

• Continuous service is measured the same way as under s 117 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth): That means authorised unpaid leave, such as unpaid parental leave, generally counts toward service, while periods of unauthorised absence do not. Periods of casual employment do not count toward continuous service for this purpose.
• There is no age-based top-up for employees: The extra week that applies when an employer gives notice to an employee over 45 with at least two years' service (under s 117(3)(b)) does not apply the other way around. The award's note to clause 11.1 makes this explicit: the employee's notice is the same as the employer's except that the employee does not have to give additional notice based on age.
• The award sets a floor, not a ceiling: Your contracts and policies can require longer notice for particular roles, and many community care employers do this for senior coordinators or clinical leads. What you cannot do is set notice shorter than the award minimum, and any contractual requirement should be reasonable for the role and applied consistently. A clause that is so demanding it is harsh or impractical may be unenforceable, so role-based notice needs to be drafted sensibly.

What happens while notice runs

During the notice period the employment continues on its existing terms. The Fair Work Ombudsman is explicit that employment continues unchanged during the notice period, even if the employer does not want the employee working it out. That means the employee remains entitled to their usual pay, rosters and entitlements until the last day.

Practical management during notice in a care environment typically includes:

• Handover of client care: Transfer of care plans, behaviour support documents, medication administration competencies, risk assessments and incident notes to the colleagues who will take over the shifts.
• Rostering: Re-working the roster to cover the departing employee's shifts, keeping in mind the award's rostering, minimum engagement and consultation requirements before making material changes.
• Access and property: Planning the return of devices, uniforms, keys and medication access, and adjusting system permissions in line with client privacy and data security obligations. If you narrow an employee's duties to protect sensitive client data, the employment relationship and pay continue unchanged unless you have a contractual basis to do otherwise.

Leave during the notice period follows ordinary rules. An employee can take paid annual leave during notice if you agree to it, and the notice period continues to run while they are on leave. Paid personal or carer's leave can be taken during notice if the employee gives notice of the leave as soon as possible and provides evidence if you ask for it. Public holidays that fall inside the notice period do not extend it.

Time off in lieu of overtime is a separate consideration. Under clause 28.2 of the award, an employee and employer may agree in writing to the employee taking time off instead of being paid for a particular amount of overtime. If there is an outstanding TOIL balance when notice is given, the award agreement governs how it is taken or paid out, so check the written agreement before the final pay is processed.

When the employee does not give enough notice

If an employee over 18 resigns without giving the notice required by clause 11.1, the award gives you a specific remedy: you may deduct from wages due to the employee under the award an amount of no more than one week's wages. The clause carries three important conditions:

• The deduction is capped at one week's wages: it can only be taken from wages owing under the award. You cannot deduct from accrued entitlements such as annual leave, or from over-award payments.
• No deduction is available if you agreed to a shorter period of notice: Clause 11.1(e) is explicit: once you agree to a shorter notice, the deduction right is gone, so think before you waive notice informally.
• The deduction must not be unreasonable in the circumstances: Clause 11.1(f) builds in a reasonableness test, which matters if the employee gave most of the notice, or had a pressing family or health reason for leaving early.

This award-authorised deduction sits inside the broader framework of s 324 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), which lists the only ways an employer can deduct from amounts payable to an employee: written authorisation principally for the employee's benefit, authorisation under an enterprise agreement, authorisation by a modern award or Fair Work Commission order, or authorisation by a law or court order. The award clause is the authorisation here, and s 326 makes clear that a term permitting deductions that are unreasonable and for the employer's benefit has no effect. In other words, the deduction is a narrow, fact-sensitive remedy, not a free hand on the final pay.

If the employee gave some but not all of the required notice, consider a pro-rata approach or a mutual agreement to accept the shorter notice, rather than a strict deduction. And if the employee simply stops attending work without resigning formally, that is a different situation that may involve abandonment of employment, and the award and contract should be reviewed before you treat the employment as over.

Payment in lieu and garden leave

Two tools let you end the working relationship sooner while keeping the pay side clean.

Payment in lieu of notice

Where the employer terminates, s 117(2)(b) of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) already contemplates payment in lieu at the full rate for the hours the employee would have worked through the notice period. Where the employee resigns, payment in lieu is a matter of agreement: you and the employee can agree to bring the end date forward, with you paying out the balance of the notice period. The Fair Work Ombudsman describes ending the notice period early by agreement, or by the employer ending the employment, as the two options where you do not want the employee working out notice. Whatever you agree, document the new end date and the payout in writing so the payroll record is clear.

Garden leave

Garden leave means the employee stays employed and paid through the notice period but is directed not to attend work, or to perform only limited duties. It is useful where the departing employee holds client data, system access or medication management responsibilities that create risk during the exit. Because garden leave keeps the employment on foot, you need a contractual clause that lets you direct duties and attendance, and it should not be confused with suspension, which is a disciplinary mechanism with its own rules.

Neither tool is a statutory entitlement; both depend on your contract and on agreement or reasonable direction under it. If your employment contracts do not include garden leave and payment-in-lieu clauses, that is the gap to close before the next resignation arrives.

Final pay when the notice period ends

Clause 24.2 of the award requires that on termination you pay the employee's wages under the award for any complete or incomplete pay period up to the end of the day of termination, plus all other amounts due under the award and the NES, subject to deductions authorised by the award or the Act.

The components of a compliant final pay for a SCHADS employee are:

• Unpaid wages: for hours worked up to the last day, including any overtime, penalty rates or allowances due.
• Accrued and untaken annual leave: paid out under s 90(2) of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) at the amount that would have been payable had the leave been taken. Under clause 31.4 of the award that includes the annual leave loading of 17.5% of the ordinary rate for non-shiftworkers, while shiftworkers receive the higher of the 17.5% loading or the weekend and shift penalties they would have received had they been on leave.
• Any agreed TOIL payout: consistent with a clause 28.2 written agreement.
• Other entitlements: such as outstanding superannuation, subject to the usual payroll rules.

The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) does not set a universal deadline for final pay, and the award is subject to further order of the Commission, but the practical expectation is prompt payment. The Fair Work Ombudsman advises paying final entitlements without delay, and in practice that means the last day or the next scheduled pay run. Late final pay is one of the most common triggers for a Fair Work dispute, and it is usually avoidable.

When to call in a lawyer

Most resignations are routine, but several points in this process are worth a professional check before you act:

• Drafting or reviewing contracts: so that notice, garden leave, payment in lieu and deduction authority are express, reasonable and enforceable.
• Before making a deduction from final pay: to confirm the award authorisation applies, the amount is capped, and the deduction is reasonable in the circumstances.
• Where the exit is contested: such as an employee who refuses to work notice, stops attending, or disputes the final pay.
• Where leave, TOIL or entitlements interact with the notice period: in a way your payroll team has not handled before.

A lawyer's role here is practical: reviewing the paperwork before a resignation arrives, advising on the deduction decision when one does, and stepping in early if a dispute or Fair Work claim looks likely. The cost of a contract review is small next to the cost of an underpayment claim or an unfair dismissal or general protections application that turns on how the exit was handled.

Before you reach for the deduction clause

The one-week deduction in clause 11.1 is the sharpest tool in this area, and the easiest to misapply. The discipline that protects you is simple: check that the employee is over 18, check that you did not agree to shorter notice, check that the deduction comes only from wages due under the award and never from annual leave or other entitlements, cap it at one week, and satisfy yourself it is reasonable in the circumstances. Do that check in writing, on every exit, and the resignation process under SCHADS stays both safe for clients and defensible before the Fair Work Commission. When in doubt about whether the award authorises what you are about to do, take advice before you touch the final pay, because a wrongful deduction converts a routine resignation into an underpayment claim.