Skip to the main content.
Talk to an expert
Talk to an expert
Featured Offer
Ambitious 50 →
6 months of Hire and Engage free for businesses under 50 people.

Hey Compono!

A coach that actually gets you.

Get 10 minutes free, then $15 a month. Cancel anytime.

Get Started ≫
HR Glossary

Stand down

Australia · Fair Work and entitlements
What is a stand down?

A stand down is when an employer directs employees not to work, without pay, because they cannot be usefully employed for reasons outside the employer's control, such as an equipment breakdown, industrial action or a stoppage of work. The power comes from section 524 of the Fair Work Act (Australia).

When is a stand down lawful?

Three conditions have to hold: there is a stoppage of work, the employee cannot be usefully employed because of it, and the cause is one the employer cannot reasonably be held responsible for. Natural disasters, government-ordered closures, industrial action not organised by the employer and major equipment failure are the classic cases. An enterprise agreement or contract can also contain its own stand down clause, which then applies instead of the Act's.

What a stand down is not

A downturn in demand is not a stand down. Quiet trading, lost contracts and cost pressure are business risks the employer carries, and the response to them is redundancy, reduced hours by agreement or restructuring, each with its own obligations. Using stand down to avoid redundancy pay is the misuse that ends up in front of the Fair Work Commission.

What happens to pay and entitlements during a stand down?

Employees are unpaid during a lawful stand down unless a contract, award or agreement says otherwise, but the employment relationship continues. Service keeps accruing, leave keeps accruing, and employees can take paid annual leave during the period if the employer agrees. Public holidays that fall during a stand down are still payable.

Next step

Calculator

Labour Cost Calculator

Put a number on it. Free, no sign-up, every benchmark sourced.

Open the calculator →Related term

Redundancy pay

Redundancy pay is the severance payment Australia's National Employment Standards require when an employee's job is made genuinely redundant, scaled from 4 up to 16 weeks' base pay by years of continuous service.

Read the definition →Related term

Notice period

A notice period is the time between telling an employee (or employer) that employment will end and the final day of work.

Read the definition →Related term

National Employment Standards (NES)

The National Employment Standards (NES) are the minimum employment entitlements in the Fair Work Act that apply to all national system employees in Australia, covering hours, leave, notice, redundancy and superannuation.

Read the definition →HR Glossary

All terms

Every definition, with the local rules, rates and thresholds attached.

Browse the glossary →

Where
Compono fits.

Compono is a talent intelligence platform: an applicant tracking system and an employee engagement platform built on the same people data.

Workforce costs move fast in a disruption. Keep the numbers in front of you.

See how it works
Compono
$34M
saved by VicRoads over two years

Common questions

Can employees be stood down because business is slow?

No. A downturn in demand does not meet the "cause outside the employer's control" test. That situation points to redundancy or agreed changes to hours, not stand down.

Do employees keep accruing leave during a stand down?

Yes. A stand down pauses pay, not service. Leave accrual and continuity of service continue.

This page is general information, not legal advice. We check figures annually and update them on a best-efforts basis, but employment rules change and we cannot promise everything here is current or complete. Before you act on it, confirm the detail with the Fair Work Ombudsman (fairwork.gov.au) or your own adviser. Last reviewed July 2026.