The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has recently completed its review of the Hair and Beauty Industry Award (Award). The 2020 version of the Award came into effect from the first full pay period on or after 9 August 2022.
What has changed?
The 2020 version is similar to the 2010 version, apart from the changes mentioned below:
The Broken Hill district allowance, manager’s allowance, and first aid allowance have been confirmed to be weekly allowances
The moving expenses and transport of employee reimbursement allowances
Annual leave
Facilitative provisions have been added to the Award
What do employers need to know?
As employers or someone in the hair and beauty industry, what is it that you need to be aware of?
Previously, the Broken Hill allowance was expressed in the Award as a percentage of the standard rate. The FWC has now expressed the Broken Hill allowance as a weekly rate. As the Award does not provide the allowance as an hourly amount, this means that the allowance cannot be pro-rated for part-time or casual employees and they must receive the full amount each week that they are entitled to it.
Earlier, other allowances such as first aid and managers allowance were expressed as a percentage figure. The FWC has now expressed these as dollar figures.
Parental leave is now incorporated in the Award. This does not change the application of parental leave, but clients face an increased risk of pecuniary penalties for avoiding their parental leave obligations and breaching the Award.
The Award will now include a note that employees paid above-award must continue to receive their above-award rate during periods that they are absent on paid annual leave. If you pay your employee above the award, ensure that you continue to pay the above-award rate when the employee takes paid annual leave. Employees taking paid annual leave under the Award are entitled to annual leave loading. Ensure that you pay annual leave loading when the employee takes leave instead of some other time, unless it has already been accounted for in a loaded rate of pay.
The Award allows some clauses to be varied in agreement with an individual employee. A new clause has been introduced summarising the provisions where this is possible.
Moving expenses are now limited to the employee’s immediate family who reside in the employee’s household. The immediate family of an employee is- their spouse, de facto partner, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling, or a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the employee’s spouse or de facto partner.
Call our 24/7 FREE Advice line on 1300 651 415 today to learn more about the new changes and how they impact you.
