Recent changes to Australia’s modern award system
10 July 2020
An important part of being a not-for-profit with employees is understanding and complying with Australia’s modern award system. Even before COVID-19 swept across the globe, significant changes for Australia’s modern award system had been scheduled for 2020. The best way to work out whether your workers’ entitlements have been impacted by changes to the modern awards is to use the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Pay and Conditional Tool (PACT). We have summarised key recent changes to the modern awards system below.
Fair Work Commission’s four yearly update to the modern awards
In 2014, the Fair Work Commission began its first four yearly review of the modern awards. As a result, in September 2019, the Fair Work Commission confirmed that new awards would come into effect at different stages in 2020. Some of these changes have already come into effect, others have a confirmed start date, and for the rest – a start date hasn’t been announced. The Clerks - Private Sector Award and the Miscellaneous Award (both common awards in the not-for-profit sector) were updated on 29 May 2020 and 1 July 2020 respectively. A start date hasn’t been announced for two other common awards in the not-for-profit sector – the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award and the Disability Services Industry Award.
Temporary modern award changes due to COVID-19
As a result of COVID-19, the Fair Work Commission has made temporary changes to many of the modern awards. Most notably, in April 2020 the Fair Work Commission made variations to 99 modern awards. The purpose of these variations was to create unpaid pandemic leave and half-pay annual leave entitlements to employees impacted by COVID-19. There have also been changes to a number of specific modern awards. For example, the Clerks - Private Sector Award has been varied to allow greater flexibility to modify the responsibilities and working conditions of administrative and clerical staff. This variation will apply until 30 September 2020 (unless it is extended). The Fair Work Commission has also made specific COVID-19 changes to the awards:
- Educational Services (Schools) General Staff Award
- Fast Food Industry Award
- Hospitality Industry (General) Award
- Restaurant Industry Award
- Vehicle Manufacturing, Repair, Services and Retail Award
The Fair Work Commission is considering other modern award variation applications.
Increase to the minimum wage
The Fair Work Commission has also announced a 1.75% increase to minimum wages. This increase will be applied to all modern awards in three stages. On 1 July 2020, the minimum wage of the first group of modern awards increased. This first group of modern awards includes the awards:
- Educational Services (Schools) General Staff Award
- Health Professionals and Support Services Award
- Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award
The minimum wage increase will be applied to the second group on 1 November 2020 and to the third group on 1 February 2021. Refer to the Fair Work Ombudsman website for details about how the modern awards have been grouped, and how these changes interact with the JobKeeper payment. For more general information, you can also read our fact sheet on modern awards and enterprise agreements. If your not-for-profit has a specific question about this, please contact us.
