Employee Transfers and Secondments in Australia: Your Service, Leave and Rights

Under the Fair Work Act 2009, an employee who is employed by an associated entity of their employer within 3 months, or who moves to a new employer with work that is sold, outsourced or brought back in-house, keeps their service, so leave and other entitlements carry over; a new employer that is not associated with the old one can decline to recognise that service for annual leave, redundancy pay and (if it says so in writing beforehand) unfair dismissal, and the old employer must then pay out the annual leave and any redundancy pay owed.

Checked on 23 October 2026 against the Fair Work Act 2009, the Fair Work Ombudsman and Safe Work Australia.

Transfers between related companies

The Fair Work Act 2009 calls a move between connected employers a transfer of employment. One happens when your job with one employer ends and, within 3 months, you are employed by an associated entity of that employer, such as a related company in the same group. (The Act takes the meaning of "associated entity" from the Corporations Act 2001; the Fair Work Ombudsman describes it as businesses connected to each other, for example where one owns or controls the other.)

• Your service carries over: service with the first employer counts as service with the second, and the gap between the two jobs does not break your continuous service (although the gap itself does not count).
• Annual leave moves with you: because your service carries over, the first employer does not pay out your untaken annual leave; you keep it with the new employer.
• No redundancy pay for the move: where your service carries over, you are not entitled to redundancy pay for the end of the first job.
• No double counting: anything you have already received for that service, such as annual leave already taken or notice already paid, is not counted again.

When a business is sold, outsourced or brought in-house

A transfer of business happens when all of these apply:

• your employment with the old employer ends;
• within 3 months, you are employed by the new employer;
• the work you do for the new employer is the same, or substantially the same, as before; and
• there is a connection between the two employers: the new employer (or a related company) has taken over assets used in that work, the work has been outsourced to the new employer, work that was outsourced has been brought back in-house, or the new employer is an associated entity of the old one.

If you are a "transferring employee", the award or enterprise agreement that covered you and the old employer generally comes with you to the new employer for that work (subject to any Fair Work Commission order), including any individual flexibility arrangement you had under it.

Turning down a job with the new employer: you are not entitled to redundancy pay from the old employer if you reject an offer from the new employer that is on terms substantially similar to, and overall no less favourable than, your old job, that recognises your service for redundancy, and that would have been a transfer of employment. The Fair Work Commission can order the old employer to pay some or all of the redundancy pay if that rule operates unfairly to you.

Secondments

The Fair Work Act does not use the term "secondment". In practice, a secondment is a temporary move to a different role, either in another part of your employer's business or with another organisation (a "host"), after which you return. Unlike a transfer of employment, your job with your employer does not end. While your employer remains your employer, your award or enterprise agreement and the National Employment Standards continue to apply through that employment.

Points to have in writing before you agree:

• how long the secondment lasts, and how either side can end it early;
• who pays you, and whether your pay, allowances, hours or location change;
• who directs your day-to-day work, and whose policies you must follow;
• how leave is approved and recorded while you are away;
• the role you return to at the end; and
• for an overseas secondment, which country's laws, tax and superannuation rules apply.

Safety on a secondment: Safe Work Australia explains that more than one business can hold the same work health and safety duty at the same time, that a duty cannot be transferred or contracted out, and that duty holders must consult, cooperate and coordinate with each other. Its list of "workers" includes a labour hire employee placed with a host employer. In practice, this usually means both your employer and the host have safety duties to you. The model laws apply in every state and territory except Victoria, which has its own safety law.

If you are moved without your agreement

• What your employer can ask: whether you can be moved to other duties, another site or another business depends on your employment contract, award or enterprise agreement. If a move is not covered by those terms, ask for the proposed change in writing and get advice before you agree.
• A demotion can be a dismissal: under the Fair Work Act, a demotion is not a dismissal only if it does not significantly cut your pay or duties and you stay with the same employer. A move that significantly reduces your pay or duties can therefore count as a dismissal, and so can being forced to resign by your employer's conduct.
• Adverse action: an employer must not alter your position to your prejudice because you used a workplace right (such as an entitlement, a complaint or an inquiry) or because of a protected attribute such as pregnancy, age, disability, or family or carer's responsibilities. If you allege the reason, the employer must prove it was something else.
• Strict deadlines: an unfair dismissal claim, or a general protections claim involving dismissal, must reach the Fair Work Commission within 21 days after the dismissal takes effect (fee $92.70 from 1 July 2026). A general protections claim that does not involve dismissal can be taken to court up to 6 years after the action.

Pregnant employees: transfer to a safe job

If you are pregnant and give your employer evidence (it can require a medical certificate) that you are fit for work but that it is inadvisable to stay in your present position for a period because of illness or risks from the pregnancy, or hazards in the position:

• if an appropriate safe job is available, your employer must transfer you to it for that period, with no other change to your terms, and pay you at your full rate of pay for your usual position for the hours you work;
• an appropriate safe job has the same ordinary hours as your present position, or different hours you agree to;
• if no safe job is available, you are entitled to paid no safe job leave at your base rate for your ordinary hours, if you are entitled to unpaid parental leave and have given the required notice and evidence; otherwise, to unpaid no safe job leave.

Free help

See also our guide to civil law.

How Go To Court Lawyers can help

Our free line, 1800 577 015, answers at any hour. Jen, our AI legal information assistant, gives general legal information and takes your details; Jen is not a lawyer and does not give advice about your case. A 60-minute consultation with a lawyer who practises in your state is a fixed $295, by phone, video or in person where the lawyer offers it. The lawyer can review a transfer, secondment or redeployment offer, explain how it affects your service, leave and redundancy pay, and advise on a demotion, dismissal or adverse action claim and its deadlines. Requests are taken at any hour; how soon a lawyer can see you depends on who is available. Request a $295 consultation.

General information only, not legal advice. Updated 23 October 2026. Checked against the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), Compilation No. 73 (7 July 2026), sections 22, 81, 81A, 82A, 91, 122, 311, 313, 342, 384 and 386; the Fair Work Ombudsman's page on employee entitlements on a transfer of business (last updated 13 May 2026); Safe Work Australia's pages on the model WHS laws, duties under WHS laws and the principles that apply to WHS duties; and the Fair Work Commission's pages on deadlines and fees, on 23 October 2026. These rules apply in the national workplace relations system, which the Fair Work Ombudsman says covers most Australian workplaces; some state public sector and local government employees are under state systems instead.