The Fair Work Commission is varying 32 modern awards from the first full pay period after 4 February 2020. The variations are as a result of its “four-yearly review” of all modern awards which included the objective of redrafting awards in “plain English”.
New versions of awards are being released in three tranches, with the first tranche taking effect from 4 February 2020 and the date set for other awards still to be confirmed.
What is changing?
The intention of the redraft was to clarify, rather than change, the meaning of the awards – so it is unlikely that most employers will need to anything differently. A much more fundamental change is coming on 1 March 2020 to a different group of awards regarding rules about paying annual salaries (see our previous article).
Which Awards are affected?
The awards that will be updated from 4 February 2020 are listed below:
- Aluminium Industry Award
- Ambulance and Patient Transport Industry Award
- Animal Care and Veterinary Services Award
- Aquaculture Industry Award
- Banking, Finance and Insurance Award
- Book Industry Award
- Car Parking Award
- Cement and Lime Award
- Cemetery Industry Award
- Coal Export Terminals Award
- Corrections and Detention (Private Sector) Award
- Cotton Ginning Award
- Electrical Power Industry Award
- Fire Fighting Award
- Gardening and Landscaping Services Award
- Hydrocarbons Industry (Upstream) Award
- Legal Service Award
- Market and Social Research Award
- Medical Practitioners Award
- Nursery Award
- Oil Refining and Manufacturing Award
- Port Authorities Award
- Premixed Concrete Award
- Racing Industry Ground Maintenance Award
- Real Estate Industry Award
- Seafood Processing Award
- Silviculture Award
- Sporting Organisations Award
- State Government Agencies Award
- Surveying Award
- Travelling Shows Award
- Water Industry Award
The new versions of the Awards can be viewed on the Fair Work Commission’s website.
The Fair Work Commission previously provided links to the amended versions of the awards in “track changes” on pages 41 and 42 of this document (see links in the second column). However, as these were only draft versions of the amended awards, employers should rely on the final versions of the awards, rather than the “track changes” drafts.
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