Award

An award, or a modern award, acts as a standard legal guideline for minimum employment terms within specific sectors or professions. It outlines essential aspects like pay rates, work hours, breaks, overtime, and other working conditions. These awards are tailored to particular industries or occupations, ensuring that employees receive fair treatment and employers understand their obligations. They play a key role in maintaining industry standards and protecting employee rights.

How to find the award that covers your employees

Most employees in Australia are covered by one of more than 120 industry and occupation awards made by the Fair Work Commission. An award covers an employee because of the industry the employer is in or the work the employee does, not because the business chooses it, and it applies whether or not the employment contract mentions it. If an enterprise agreement applies, the award does not. For example, a cook in a restaurant is usually covered by the Restaurant Industry Award 2020, while a cook in a hotel is usually covered by the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020.

Our guide to modern awards explains how coverage works, and an HR compliance audit can confirm which awards apply to your team.