Ok, so you’ve heard a lot about modern awards and the fact that they come in on 1 January 2010. But can you actually use award flexibility agreements to make the application of awards to your business more flexible?
Take a café that employs a number of casual employees that work only on weekends. How can the café enter into Award Flexibility Agreements to pay a fixed “weekend casual rate”?
Easy! Once you engage the casual employees (which you will usually do by a letter of appointment) you can enter in an award flexibility agreement that sets out an averaged weekend hourly rate for them (say $24). You don’t have to get it approved by the Fair Work Australia.
Remember: You can only offer this agreement after you have engaged the casual employee (i.e. you can’t offer them casual employment on the condition that they enter into the agreement).
You can only make this agreement on or after 1 January 2010. You must give the employee a copy of the agreement and keep the agreement as a time and wages record. Either party can terminate the agreement on 4 weeks’ written notice.
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Template: Award Flexibility Agreement
[insert name and address of employer] (the Employer) and [insert name and address of employee] (the Employee) agree to vary the application of clause 32.1 of the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2010 (the Award) to meet the genuine individual needs of the employer and the individual employee. The agreement will vary the Award to provide that when the Employee performs casual engagements on Saturday or Sunday the Employee will be paid 162.5% of the minimum wage rate in clause 20 of the Award for the relevant classification (which at the date of this agreement amounts to a gross hourly rate of $24). The agreement does not disadvantage the Employee in relation to the Employee’s terms and conditions of employment because the Employee will generally perform casual engagements on an equal number of Saturdays and Sundays. This agreement is made on ……………………………2010 and commences operation on………………………….2010 Signed: on behalf of the Employer: ________________________________ Signature _________________________________ Name of person authorised to sign on behalf of by the Employee: _________________________________ Signature of Employee _________________________________ Name of Employee or _________________________________ Signature of Employee’s parent or guardian (if the Employee is under 18 years of age) _________________________________ Name parent or guardian and relationship to Employee |
Regards,
Charles Power
Editor-in-Chief
Employment Law Practical Handbook
