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WORKPLACE RELATIONS
Will recent Award changes and a decision that confirms casual employees are entitled to overtime changes affect your employees?
AS PART of their four-yearly review of modern awards, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has made a substantive change to the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 (HPSSA) and Nurses Award 2010 regarding casuals’ overtime. Pandemic leave has also been extended in both Awards. Changes were also made to the HPSSA in June 2020 that are mainly editorial.
Calculation of overtime for casuals
The FWC will publish draft determinations to vary the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 and Nurses Award 2010 as a result of their decision 18.8.2020 on overtime for casuals.
Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020
The full bench of the Fair Work Commission has confirmed that casuals should receive overtime calculated on their hourly rate plus the 25% loading. The word ‘time’ in the Award expressed as “time and a half” and “double time” is taken to mean the rate payable in ordinary hours, which for casual employees includes the casual loading. The Commission has indicated they will expedite the variation of clause 24.2(d).
Nurses Award 2010
The full bench of the Fair Work Commission has confirmed that ‘…casual employees are entitled to overtime when they work in excess of 38 hours per week, 76 hours per fortnight or 152 hours in a 4-week period, or where they work in excess of 10 hours in one day.’
Currently, casual employees don’t have an entitlement to overtime for work in excess of “rostered hours” where this does not exceed 10 hours.
Extension of unpaid pandemic leave (Schedule X)
Unpaid pandemic leave has been extended indefinitely for employees covered by the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 and Nurses Award 2010, until further, or other, order of the Fair Work Commission. In both Awards, schedule X.1 provides for up to two weeks’ unpaid pandemic leave to be taken where an employee is prevented from working due to having to self-isolate (as a result of government or medical authorities or medical advice … in response to the COVID-19 pandemic), provided the leave starts before 29 October 2020.
Annual Leave
In both Awards, schedule X.2.2 provides for employee and employer to agree on employees taking twice as much annual leave on half pay, as long as the leave starts before 29 October 2020.
Paid pandemic leave (Aged Care only) (Schedule Y)
From 29 July to 29 October 2020, up to 2 weeks paid pandemic leave is available, per occasion, to employees in the aged care industry who are covered by the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 and Nurses Award 2010. Schedule Y in the respective award details this.
Paid pandemic leave does not extend to employees who are not engaged in the aged care industry.
HPSSA (June 2020 changes)
The HPSSA 2020 was previously HPSSA 2010, and changes were primarily to layout, language, clause numbers and the addition of an hourly rates summary in Schedule C.
If you have any questions about the above, please contact the Workplace Relations Team on (02) 9439 8822.