{
  "id": 19692014,
  "title": "Amid rising job cuts, these are your legal rights if you’re made redundant",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/12/amid-rising-job-cuts-these-are-your-legal-rights-if-youre-made",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-12T19:03:28.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Conversation AU",
    "slug": "the-conversation-au",
    "url": "https://theconversation.com/amid-rising-job-cuts-these-are-your-legal-rights-if-youre-made-redundant-296258"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Australian retailer David Jones recently announced plans to close 19 of its stores as it enters voluntary administration. The company has not disclosed the exact number of employees affected, with current employment standing at 6,000. This follows a similar move by Qantas, who will outsource 850 jobs to India as part of a shift towards AI.\n\nBanking giant National Australia Bank has also revealed plans to cut up to 2,500 jobs, representing about 6% of its workforce. Additionally, Canva announced job cuts amounting to 22% of its staff. These announcements have contributed to Australia's current unemployment rate of 4.7%, the highest in five years.\n\nRedundancy pay is typically calculated based on the length of an employee's continuous service. However, certain groups, such as casual workers, those with less than 12 months of service, and employees of small businesses with fewer than 15 staff, are not entitled to redundancy pay.\n\nIf an employer is in voluntary administration, employees will generally continue to be paid. However, outstanding entitlements like wages, leave, and superannuation may not be paid during this period. If the company enters a \"deed of company arrangement\" with its creditors, employees are generally prioritized over other unsecured creditors for the payment of their entitlements, which include outstanding wages, superannuation, leave, and redundancy pay.\n\nIn cases where a company goes into liquidation, its assets are distributed to creditors in a similar order of payment. Employees can recover most of their unpaid entitlements through the national safety net scheme, the Fair Entitlements Guarantee, within 12 months of employment ending or the employer entering liquidation, whichever comes later. However, this scheme does not cover unpaid superannuation. As of July 1, new \"payday super\" laws require employers to pay superannuation contributions alongside employees' wages, reducing the risk of significant unpaid superannuation claims.",
  "summary": "If you work for a small business or a big company like David Jones, your rights to redundancy payouts can vary. Here’s what you need to know.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}