This article provides guidelines about using the pre-built Waste Management Award (MA000043) Award package. For further information about this industry award, refer to Waste Management Award (MA000043).
Key updates
See the current financial year tab to see award updates for the 2026/27 financial year, while all previous updates before this time can be found in the historical financial years tab.
15th
We have updated the hourly rates to exclude the Industry Allowance to ensure the pay rates are aligned with the Pay Guide.
1st
We have updated the award to reflect the Fair Work Commission's National Minimum Wage increase detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2026 decision, and also includes updates to expense-related allowances. You can find more information on the Determinations here and here.
These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after the 1st July 2026. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run before the first full pay period beginning on or after the 1st July 2026.
The payment classification has been updated for the pay category 'Meal Allowance - Overtime' to align with STP reporting
6th
We have introduced a new suite of configurations for Salaried Employment Agreements to allow the employers to manage the salaried employees, who are under Individual flexibility arrangements, directly within the award instead of having to remove them.
This introduction, which is an enhancement rather than a legislative update requirement, includes the items below if they do not already exist within an award:
- Pay Categories (Salary and Salary - Public Holiday Not Worked).
- Leave Allowance Templates for “No loading” and “With loading”.
- Rule Set to disregard timesheets.
- Pay Rate Templates.
- Employment Agreements for all employee types (full-time, part-time, and casual).
For detailed information on the changes, please refer to our guide here.
We have also renamed all leave allowance templates by adding the award code as a prefix. This ensures each template can be accurately associated with its respective award, particularly in cases where template names are identical.
We have also updated the award to reflect changes in the Leading Hand Allowance and Boat Allowance, ensuring alignment with the Pay Guide and PACT. To address these changes, we have replaced and updated the rules and rates from per hour to per week in all applicable pay rate templates.
Additionally, the following unused pay categories have been retired and marked with an asterisk (*) to prevent any further utilization:
- *Leading Hand Allowance - responsible for overseeing 4-8 employees
- *Leading Hand Allowance - responsible for overseeing 9-15 employees
- *Leading Hand Allowance - responsible for overseeing more than 15 employees
- *Boat Allowance
1st
We have updated the award to reflect the Fair Work Commission's National Minimum Wage increase detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2024-25 decision and also includes updates to expense-related allowances. You can find more information on the Determinations here and here.
These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after the 1st July 2025. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run before the first full pay period beginning on or after the 1st July 2025.
Install and configure the pre-built award package
For details on how to install and configure this Pre-built Award Template, please review the detailed help article here. While every effort is made to provide a high-quality service, Employment Hero does not accept responsibility for, guarantee or warrant the accuracy, completeness or up-to-date nature of the service. Before relying on the information, users should carefully evaluate its accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance for their purposes, and should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances.
The award default Rule Set Period is set to that (Weekly - ends on every Sunday). If you follow a different work pattern or roster period, you can review and set the rule set period date that applies to your organisation.
Conditions of Pay
| Clause | Conditions | |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary hours of work. |
13.2 11.6 |
|
| Maximum hours per day. | 13.2 | Maximum 8 hours per day. |
| Maximum hours over a period. |
13.1 10.6(a) |
|
| Overtime. |
19.1 19.2 19.3 27.5(b) |
Day worker:
Shiftworker:
Computing overtime each day’s work will stand alone. |
| RDO. | 13.3 | Accrual of RDO - 24 minutes per day over 19 work days. |
| TIL. | 19.6 | The period of time off that an employee is entitled to take is the same as the number of overtime hours worked. |
| Clause | Conditions | |
|---|---|---|
| Shiftwork. |
20.1 20.7 |
Each shift must be paid for at the rate applicable to the day on which the major portion of the shift is worked. |
| Weekends. |
21.3 21.4 |
Saturday:
Sunday:
|
| Christmas - Alternative Day. |
27.5(d) |
If Christmas falls on Saturday/Sunday and and another day is observed as a Christmas Day (additional day) Full Time Shiftworker receives
|
| Public Holidays. |
27.5(a) 27.5(g) |
Permanent:
When Christmas falls on Saturday/Sunday and and another day is observed as a Christmas Day (additional day), if Full Time Shiftworker work on that Christmas Day (additional day), they get paid at the rate
Casual
|
| Clause | Conditions | |
|---|---|---|
| Auto meal break. | 14.1 |
|
| Minimum shift engagement. |
10.3 11.3 21.3 21.4 27.5 |
|
| RDO - Public Holidays. | 27.3 |
RDO on Public holidays, entitled to either
|
| Higher Duties. | 15.3 | Where an employee is required to perform work at more than one classification level on any one day the employee is to be paid the minimum rate for the highest level, calculated hourly, for the whole day. |
| Weekend Travelling time - Overtime. | 21.2 | When an employee, after having worked overtime, finishes work at a time when reasonable means of transport are not available, the employer must provide transport home or pay the employee at the ordinary hourly rate for the time reasonably taken to return home. |
| Call-back. | 19.5 |
|
| Minimum break between shifts. | 19.4 |
|
| Annual Leave Loading. | 22.2 |
|
Special Notes
The clause listed in the table below was not included in the award. If you need any of these clauses, it is necessary to create or customise the award.
| Clause Name | Clause No. | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Auto Meal Break | 14.1(a) |
Need to customise rules.
|
| Meal Allowance - Overtime | 16.3(a)(ii) |
Need to customise rules. An employee required to commence work 2 hours or more prior to the normal agreed starting time must be paid a meal allowance. |
| Rostered day off falling on a public holiday | 27.3(a)(iii) |
Need to customise rules. Where an employee’s rostered day off falls on a public holiday, the employee is entitled, at the discretion of the employer, to either: a substitute day off. |
| Substitution of public holidays by agreement | 27.4 |
Need to customise rules. |
| Shiftwork - overtime | 20.4 |
Need to customise rules. An employee engaged on shiftwork must be paid at the relevant overtime rates as provided for in clause 19—Overtime instead of the shift rate in clause 20.3 if: (a) the employee has not had at least 48 hours’ notice of a shift; or (b) the shiftwork is not regular shiftwork (as defined in clause 20.1(e));
|
| Transfer to or from shiftwork. | 20.5 |
Need to customise rules. (a) An employee may be transferred to or from shiftwork on 14 days’ notice provided the employee has at least 10 hours off duty before commencing shiftwork.
(b) Where 14 days’ notice is not provided, the employee will be paid overtime rates for all work done outside previous ordinary working hours within 14 days of the time of notification of the change.
|
Work types
Work types are a description of the kind of shift you are working, and you select them when you record a timesheet. The following is a list of work types employees can select on their timesheet, and the meaning of each item.
| Annual Leave Taken. | Choose this work type when annual leave is taken. |
| Call-back (first recall). | Choose this work type for the first recall to work overtime. |
| Call-back (subsequent recall). | Choose this work type for each subsequent recall to work overtime. |
| Christmas Day falls on a weekend. |
Choose this work type when Christmas Day falls on a weekend and another day is observed as additional Christmas Day. Employees will need to use this work type on the Christmas day and the addition day to get the correct penalties. This is applicable for Full Time Shiftworkers only. |
| Compassionate Leave Taken. | Choose this work type when compassionate leave is taken. |
| First Aid Duties. | Choose this work type when performing First Aid Duties. |
| Leave Without Pay Taken. | Choose this work type when any unpaid leave is taken. |
| Long Service Leave Taken. | Choose this work type when any unpaid leave is taken. |
| Meal Allowance - no meal provided. | Choose this work type when working overtime and no meal provided. |
| No minimum shift engagement. | Choose this work type when there is no minimum shift or daily engagement requirement. |
| No rest period after overtime. | Choose this work type if an employee resumes work without having the 10 consecutive hours rest period following overtime. |
| Paid Community Service Leave Taken. | Choose this work type when community service leave is taken. |
| Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave Taken. | Choose this work type when paid family and domestic violence leave taken. |
| Personal/Carer's Leave Taken. | Choose this work type when personal and/or carer's leave is taken. |
| Public Holiday Not Worked. | Choose this work type where a Permanent employee is not required to work on a shift falling on a public holiday that the employee would have otherwise worked had it not been a public holiday. |
| RDO on a Public Holiday (accrue AL). | Choose this work type when RDO is on a Public Holiday and employees want to accrue extra Annual Leave plus ordinary hours instead of being paid at penalty rates. |
| Rostered Day Off Taken. | Choose this work type when rostered day off taken. |
| TIL of Overtime. | Choose this work type if the employee elects to accrue time in lieu rather than be paid overtime for a shift. |
| Time In Lieu Taken. | Choose this work type when time in lieu is taken. |
| Weekend Travelling time - Overtime. | Choose this work type for travelling time on Saturday and Sunday. |
Shift conditions
Shift Conditions are further details you can add to a shift where more than one condition applies to your shift. Shift conditions are selected when you edit a timesheet record, or when clocking on using the ClockMeIn Time and Attendance or Swag apps. The following is a list of Shift Conditions employees can select on their timesheet, and the meaning of each item.
| First Aid Duties. | Select this shift condition when performing First Aid Duties. |
| Meal Allowance - no meal provided. | Select this shift condition when working overtime and no meal provided. |
| No minimum shift engagement. | Select this shift condition when there is no minimum shift or daily engagement requirement. |
| No rest period after overtime. | Select this shift condition if an employee resumes work without having the 10 consecutive hours rest period following overtime. |
Tags
Employee Tags are specific conditions typically related to the employee’s agreement. These are often conditions negotiated and agreed between the employer and the employee, or unique characteristics of the employee’s role. Payment of these provisions is usually of a recurring and ongoing nature.
| Boat Allowance. | Assign this tag to an employee required to use a boat. |
| First Aid. | Assign this tag to an employee who holds a higher first aid certificate. |
| Leading Hand - 4-8 employees. | Assign this tag to an employee appointed to be a leading hand in charge of 4-8 employees. |
| Leading Hand - 9-15 employees. | Assign this tag to an employee appointed to be a leading hand in charge of 9-15 employees. |
| Leading Hand - 15+ employees. | Assign this tag to an employee appointed to be a leading hand in charge of more than 15 employees. |
| RDO. | Assign this tag to an employee if they accrue RDO. |
| TIL of OT. | Assign this tag if an employee has agreed to have all overtime hours accrued as time in lieu of overtime. |
| Transport Allowance. | Assign this tag to an employee required to commence duty before 4.00 am and no transport provided. |
System Limitations
Please note that rules will not be able to interpret or calculate the below clauses due to platform limitations and will require manual intervention.
- (e) Time off must be taken:
- (i) within the period of 6 months after the overtime is worked; and
- (ii) at a time or times within that period of 6 months agreed by the employee and employer.
- (f) If the employee requests at any time, to be paid for overtime covered by an agreement under clause 19.6 but not taken as time off, the employer must pay the employee for the overtime, in the next pay period following the request, at the overtime rate applicable to the overtime when worked
- (g) If time off for overtime that has been worked is not taken within the period of 6 months mentioned in clause 19.6(e), the employer must pay the employee for the overtime, in the next pay period following those 6 months, at the overtime rate applicable to the overtime when worked.
To prevent underpayment, the system will always top up the industry allowance to meet the minimum engagement level. It automatically applies the minimum industry allowance required for each shift. If a workday includes multiple broken shifts, there may be an excess allowance applied. In these instances, the payroll administrators will need to manually adjust the pay run to remove any over-applied allowance.
For example:
When a part-time employee works more than one shift in a day
- First shift (8 am-9 am) 1 hour
- Second shift (10 am-11 am) 1 hour
2 hours will be topped up at the end of the day according to the minimum engagement but 4 units of Industry allowance are paid per each entry shift. The administrator is required to adjust the pay run to correct any excess industry allowance that has been applied.
An employee must be allowed an unpaid meal break of not less than 15 minutes and not more than 30 minutes after 2 hours of overtime.
- The unpaid meal break after 2 hours of overtime can not be triggered automatically by rules, it requires a manual clock in and clock out for this meal break if needed.