Inspire Success

If your employees are covered by a modern award, you are able to make an agreement with one or more of these employees to vary the application of modern award terms dealing with:

• working hours and days;
• overtime rates;
• penalty rates; and
• allowances and leave loading.

The flexibility agreement allows for variations to modern awards in order to meet the genuine needs of employers and individual employees while ensuring minimum entitlements and protections are not undermined.

Here are 5 things your award flexibility agreement must include to be considered legal:

1. It must outline exactly what has been agreed to, and how the terms of employment have been varied.
2. It must demonstrate how the agreement does not disadvantage the employee in their terms and conditions of employment.
3. It must state the date that the agreement will commence.
4. It must state that the agreement can be terminated by either party by giving 4 weeks written notice of termination.
5. It must be signed and dated by both you and the employee.

It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that the employee is better off overall than if there was no award flexibility agreement. The employer’s ‘better off overall’ assessment will usually involve comparing the employee’s financial benefits under the flexibility agreement with the financial benefits under the applicable award or enterprise agreement. The employee’s personal circumstances and any non-financial benefits which are significant to the employee can also be considered.
After you have made an award flexibility agreement with an employee, you must keep a copy of it on file and also give a copy to the employee.

Remember, you cannot make the signing of an award flexibility agreement a condition of employment and you can only make an award flexibility agreement with an employee covered by a modern award. However you can't make an award flexibility agreement with an employee who is covered by an enterprise agreement.

For further information you can review the Fair Work Act website http://www.fairwork.gov.au/media-centre/latest-news/2011/06/pages/20110627-high-income-threshold-rises-to-118100.aspx  (Is this the right link?) Contact Inspire Success if you would like to discuss how this affects your business.

If you have a business using a Modern Award, Enterprise Agreement , NAPSA, transitional APCS or Award Free Employees, On the 3 June 2011, Fair Work Australia handed down its 2011 annual wage review decision.

All Modern Award Rates of pay are increased by 3.4% (or $19.40 per week) effective from the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2011.

The Decision has increased the adult minimum wage by 3.4% to $589.30 per week (or $15.51 per hour). This decision applies to businesses utilising Modern Awards, Enterprise Awards and NAPSAs, all transitional APCSs and award free employees.

The First Fair Work Australia Wage Case

This decision concerns the first Annual Wage Review under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Fair Work Act). A large number of interested organisations and bodies participated in the review. 

For the entire decision - please click on this link. 

The Increase!

An increase of $26 applies to all modern award minimum weekly wages.

The national minimum wage in the national minimum wage order will be $569.90 per week or $15 per hour. The hourly rate has been calculated on the basis of a 38 hour week for a full-time employee, consistent with s.62 of the Fair Work Act.  

 

 

 

For more details on the decision - follow this link. 

Implementation

This pay increase is effective 01 July 2010. The effect will be that where the phasing provisions are included in an award the pre-modern award conditions relating to minimum wages, casual and part-time loadings, Saturday, Sunday, public holiday, evening and other penalties and shift allowances will apply until 1 July 2010 when the modern award obligations will commence. There will be a further four instalments on 1 July of each year concluding on 1 July 2014.  

For more information on transition arrangements - follow this link.

 

 

 

Did you know that there has already been more than $33million in fines to small business for Fair Work Act non compliance?

Determining the Modern Award that applies to your business is a key element of becoming compliant - but it can be challenging! From thousands of state and federal awards there are now around 200 that will affect most businesses. For many of our customers, it has been very easy to identify the Modern Award that applies to their business - for others it has been quite difficult. Getting the pay and transitional arrangements for your staff right is even more critical in this time of change. 

Modern Award Madness - get it right for your business

Modern Awards, together with the National Employment Standards (NES) and the national minimum wage orders, form the safety net for employees under the new Fair Work system. Under the Fair Work Act 2009, penalties of up to $6,600 for an individual and $33,000 for a corporation may apply to a breach of a term of a Modern Award and/or the NES. Here is our action plan to make it easier for your business:

1 – Confirm your Awards
What Modern Awards cover your employees now? Check our Fair Work Support Site - http://www.inspire-success.com/fairworkact
Identifying the Modern Award or award/s that applies to your business may require specialist advice.

2 – Check the old award/s with the Modern Award/s
What award were your employees covered by? Compare those provisions with those of the Modern Award and the NES. Remember that if the former award conditions are better, they could still apply to your people.

3 – Research any transitional provisions
Do your Modern Award/s have transitional provisions? July 2010 might be one of several new milestones for your business.  This could include wages, loading, penalties and non-expense related allowances. Most Modern Awards have transitional requirements, which are key to effective implementation of the awards in your business.

4 – Update your people practices
Many of your people policies, procedures and letters will need to be modified. Updating these systems may need some guidance.

Still unsure about how it applies at your place? Why dont you take a look at our FWA Support Site for a one stop shop! Use our Fair Work Checklist to do your initial review of your people systems and if you need any help, give me a yell!