Understanding Modern Awards

As a business owner in Australia, it is important that you understand the Modern Awards and make sure that they are applied at your workplace. If you don’t comply with this, you may find yourself in a position where you will either be fined or have your business investigated.
If you want to understand the modern award rate changes, it is important you know that there are more than 122 Modern awards that cover different industries as well as job types. Since there are so many of them, it is understandable that you won’t know which ones apply to your business, industry, as well as employees. It is particularly more challenging for businesses that have a variety of different roles or have different functionalities, because you may find out that not all of your employees fall in the same Modern Awards. This is the reason why you need to know everything about Modern Awards and be informed about the changes, so that you can adapt to them.

What Is a Modern Award?

Modern Awards is an outline of the entitlements that your workers are entitled to. It covers details such as conditions and wages based on different industries. Some of the things that make up Modern Awards are penalty rates, allowances, type of employment, overtime, superannuation and leave entitlements. At present, Modern Awards cover 10 minimum standards for employment. They are:

• Public holidays
• Personal, careers and compassionate leave
• Parental leave and related entitlements
• Notice of termination and redundancy pay
• Maximum weekly hours
• Long service leave
• Flexible working requests
• Fair Work Information Statement
• Community service leave
• Annual leave

Modern Awards, Fair Work Act 2009, National Employment Standards, give a good understanding of the entitlements and understanding of the rights, so that they can be treated well.

Who Do Modern Awards Cover?

It is important you know that employees that are employed under the Enterprise Agreement or the ones that work under the industry are not covered by the Award. It is important you know that employees come under Enterprise Agreement only if they have negotiated a work agreement. Some of the Modern Awards include the following:

• Vehicle Manufacturing, Repair, Services and Retail Award
• Real Estate Industry Award
• Miscellaneous Award
• Hospitality Industry (general) Award
• Hair and Beauty Industry Award
• General Retail Industry Award
• Clerks Private Sector Award
• Children’s Services Award
• Building and Construction General On-site Award
• Aged Care Award

As a business owner, it is important you know that some of the employees may fall under different awards. What you need to do is determine the employee’s qualifications, rate of pay, as well as level of experience under the Modern Award. Understanding Modern Awards and which ones apply to your business can be a little tricky, which is why there is no surprise that most of the business owners often get really confused.