Award servicing and interpretation

Hair&Beauty HRS's advice allows you to understand the role the modern awards may play in regulating the terms and conditions of your employees’ employment.

 

The award system has undergone considerable changes in recent years and can be a difficult landscape for businesses to navigate.

 

The complex and constantly changing nature of legislation in the field of employment law has created an environment in which many businesses today find it difficult to keep up to date and ensure that they are complying with all of the relevant requirements and regulations.

 

Of significance is the modernisation of the award system. The award modernisation process involved the review of more than 1500 state and federal awards replaced with 123 industry and occupational awards which we now know as termed ‘modern awards’.

 

Your business may face liability if you do not comply with your legal obligations. We can review your compliance with the various aspects of legislation, Awards and Enterprise Agreements to minimise the risks to your business. We provide detailed advice as to your compliance and an assessment of possible risks as well as a practical, commercial view as to how to handle them, awareness of pending changes relevant to your business, and strategic factors in deciding on the future shape of contracts/workplace agreements/modern awards as applicable to your business. We can explain the workplace relations system to you and advise what options it provides you to ensure you have developed appropriate pay and employment conditions for all your employees and that you are meeting all your obligations as an employer.

 

Just ask yourself the following questions – and if you are in doubt with any of these issues, then your business may not be complying.

• Do you know which modern awards apply to your business?

• Are you aware of the changes arising from the NES (eg extensions to parental leave rights, rights to request flexible work arrangements, changed rules for cashing out leave or directing employees to take annual leave)?

• Are you aware of the future status of old agreements such as AWAs, ITEAs and EBAs?

• Do any of your employees covered by an award count as “highly paid employees” so that the award may not apply?

• Are any of your employees deemed as “long term casuals” and as such have the rights & protections like many full-time and part-time employees ?

• Do you comply with current rates of pay and classifications, casual loadings, overtime rules?

• Have you reviewed your employment contracts, policies and practices to ensure they are consistent with the NES?

 

Hair&Beauty HRS provides specialist workplace relations services to organisations that do not have a dedicated HR resource internally, or where your own HR staff need assistance to deal with a particular project or issue. We can provide you with a range of high quality services to assist in navigating the modern award system, including:

• Identifying the appropriate modern award/s that apply in your workplace & ensuring your organisation meet its legal obligations under the relevant modern award

• Deciphering where specific roles in your centre fit within the modern award classification structure

• Ascertaining the correct minimum wages, loadings and penalties contained in the relevant modern award

• Understanding how a particular term of the modern award should be applied in practice

• Leave policies and payroll practices

• Immigration compliance

• Discrimination, email/internet, drug and alcohol, WHS, workplace surveillance policies

• Termination processes

• Compliance with all of the relevant applicable awards and legislation

• Understanding the relationship between the relevant modern award and the national employment standard (the NES)

• Assisting your organisation meet its legal obligations under the relevant modern award and;

• Keeping you informed about changes to modern awards