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Nurses Award 2020 (MA000034)

Updated

This article provides guidelines about when to use the different work types and tags that are included as part of the pre-built Nurses Award 2020 [MA000034] package. For further information about the Nurses Award 2020 MA000034, refer to: Nurses Award 2020 MA000034.

Key updates

  Select the current financial year tab to see award updates for the 2026/27 financial year, while all previous updates before this time you can find in the historical financial years tab.

Current financial year Historical financial years
August 2026

7th

We have made the following updates to the award to align with the current pay guide:

  • Updated pay rates for the following pay rate templates:
    • Casual – Registered Nurse (Aged Care Employees) – Level 2 – First 3 Years at This Level
    • Casual – Registered Nurse (Aged Care Employees) – Level 2 – 3 Years or More at This Level
    • Permanent – Registered Nurse (Aged Care Employees) – Level 2 – First 3 Years at This Level
    • Permanent – Registered Nurse (Aged Care Employees) – Level 2 – 3 Years or More at This Level
  • Updated the "Available for Duty During Meal Break" allowance for the following permanent and casual pay rate templates:
    • Enrolled Nurse (Aged Care) Supervising Other Direct Care Employees
    • Occupational Health Nurse – Level 3, Pay Points 1–4 and Thereafter
    • Registered Nurse (Aged Care Employees) – Level 1 (First Year, More Than 1 Year and Up to 4 Years, More Than 4 Years)
    • Registered Nurse (Aged Care Employees) – Level 2 (First 3 Years, 3 Years or More)
    • Registered Nurse (Aged Care Employees) – Levels 3, 4, and 5.
July 2026

31st

We’ve updated the pay rate templates below to reflect the Work value case—Aged care industry minimum rate increase effective on August 1, 2026. You can find more information on the Determination here.

  • Enrolled nurse aged care supervising other direct care employees
  • Registered nurse Aged care employees

These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after 1st August 2026. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run before the first full pay period beginning on or after 1st August 2026.

 

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.

Installing and configuring 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, we do 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.

Coverage

This award covers employers throughout Australia of employees in the Nurses Award 2020. For further details and any exclusions, please see clause 4 of the award.

Managing progressions through pay points

The award requires progression through pay points to be based on an anniversary date for full time employees and 1,786 hours for part-time and casual employees. We have built automatic progression into the employment agreements for full time employees based on the number of years since the anniversary date. The anniversary date should be populated by the user as the date that the employee started at their particular level.

For part-time and casual employees, we are unable to provide an automatic progression into the employment agreements as it is based on number or hours worked at a particular pay point. Instead, we have provided an employment agreement for each pay point. To keep track of the hours worked at a particular pay point, we recommend keeping the anniversary date populated as the date the employee started at the current pay point.

With this stored, you can run a timesheet report (Reports > Timesheet Report), setting the 'from' date as the employees anniversary date and the to date as today. This will tally the hours worked between those two dates to give you a gauge as to whether the employee is ready to move on to the next pay point.

Special Notes

  • Categories (work types, tags, pay categories) that have been marked with an asterisk (*) are no longer used in rules. It still remains visible in the platform for auditing/reporting purposes. 

  • Any Pay Rate Templates or Employment Agreements marked with an asterisk (*) are historical versions and are no longer updated. Please ensure that employees are moved to the corresponding Employment Agreement or Pay Rate Template, as we will no longer update the old versions.
  • The "Hours worked on a substituted public holiday" work type is currently for reporting purposes only. It is not pre-configured with any automation logic. Any pay conditions for this specific work type require custom rules to be created.
  • The base rate for the following classification levels may not match the rate indicated on the pay guide due to a rounding issue with the system's calculation of casual loading. Please review and make manual adjustments where required.
    • Casual - Registered nurses aged care employees - level 5, grade 4

Work types

The below lists and explains the work types an employee can select on their timesheet.

A - F
ADO taken Select this work type when an accrued day off is taken. This will also be used when turning an approved leave request into a timesheet entry through employee self-service.
Annual leave taken Select this work type when annual leave is taken. This will also be used when turning an approved leave request into a timesheet entry through employee self-service.
Available for duty whilst on meal break

Select this work type when you are required by the employer to remain available for duty during a meal break.

1 unit = 1 allowance of 30 minutes paid break at ordinary rate.
Ceremonial leave taken Select this work type when ceremonial leave is taken. This will also be used when turning an approved leave request into a timesheet entry through employee self-service.
Changeover shift Select this work type if you are moving from, for example, day work to shift work or afternoon shift to night shift as part of a regular rostered changeover.
Compassionate leave taken Select this work type when compassionate leave is taken. This will also be used when turning an approved leave request into a timesheet entry through employee self-service.
Eight hour break between shifts Select this work type when, by mutual agreement between the employer and employee, the 10-hour rest break may be reduced to eight hours.
G - L
Hours worked Select this work type for all hours worked, unless another work type is more specific.
Hours worked on a substituted public holiday Under this award, public holidays may be substituted for another day by agreement. Choose this work type if that day is a substituted public holiday.
Kilometres travelled Select this work type to enter the mileage travelled in your car for work purposes. 1 unit is equivalent to 1 kilometre.
Leave without pay Select this work type when leave without pay is taken. This will also be used when turning an approved leave request into a timesheet entry through employee self-service.
Long service leave taken Select this work type when long-service leave is taken. This will also be used when turning an approved leave request into a timesheet entry through employee self-service.
M - Q
No Rest Break Between Shifts Select this work type if the employee has not met the required 10 consecutive hours of rest break as per clause 13.4 and 19.4.
On call Select this work type if you are on call. This should reflect the start and finish time you are required to be on call, up to 24 hours in duration
On call on a rostered day off Select this work type if you are on call and it is normally your rostered day off. This should reflect the start and finish time you are required to be on call, up to 24 hours in duration.
Paid community service leave taken Select this work type when paid community service leave is taken. This will also be used when turning an approved leave request into a timesheet entry through employee self-service.
Personal/carer's leave Select this work type when personal / carer's leave is taken. This will also be used when turning an approved leave request into a timesheet entry through employee self-service.
Public holiday not worked Use this work type if you're a permanent employee who has had a day or part of a day off because it is a public holiday.
Public holiday on rostered day off Use this work type if it is a public holiday, but you normally are not required to work on that day.
R - Z
Recalled to work when not on call Use this work type if you are called back to work after leaving for the day, and you were not on call when you left.
Recalled to work when on call Use this work type if you are called back to work after leaving for the day, and you were on call when you left.
Recalled back to duty whilst on meal break Select this work type when you are recalled back to be on duty during a meal break.
Recalled to work when on call - electronic communication Select this work type when you are on call and and are required to perform work by the employer via electronic communication. 
Recalled to work when not on call - electronic communication Select this work type when you are not on call and are required to perform work by the employer via electronic communication.
Remain on duty during meal break Use this work type when you are required to stay on duty during your rostered meal break. Use this work type for the part of the day until you have had an actual meal break.
Time in lieu taken Select this work type when time in lieu is taken . This will also be used when turning an approved leave request into a timesheet entry through employee self-service.

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 Clock Me In Time and Attendance or WorkZone apps. The following is a list of shift conditions employees can select on their timesheet, and the meaning of each item.

A - M
Eight-hour break between shifts Use this shift condition for a shift where, by mutual agreement between the employer and employee, the ten-hour rest break may be reduced to eight hours.
Forfeit meal break Use this shift condition for a shift where, by agreement of an individual employee, an employee who works shifts of six hours or less may forfeit their meal break.
N - Z
Time in lieu for overtime shift Use this shift condition for a shift where you'd like to swap any overtime for time in lieu. If you'd like this as a permanent arrangement, use the employee tag instead and do not use the shift condition.

Tags

Employee Tags are specific conditions typically related to the employees agreement. These are often conditions negotiated and agreed between the employer and the employee, or unique characteristics of the employee's role.

A - K
Accrued day off Select this tag to implement an accrued day-off system. Using this, an employee working, for example, 5 x 8 hour shifts per week will accrue a day off after 19 shifts.
Employee could reasonably return home for a meal Select this tag if the employee is close enough that they could reasonably return home for a meal during overtime rest periods.
Employee launders own uniform Select this tag if the employee is responsible for laundering their own uniforms.
L - Z
Shiftworker Select this tag if the employee is principally engaged to be a shift worker.
Time in lieu of overtime Select this tag if the employee has agreed to have all overtime hours accrued as time in lieu of overtime.
Time in lieu of public holidays
 Select this tag if the employee has agreed to have the penalty rate portion of all public holiday hours accrued as time in lieu.
Uniform provided by employer
 Select this tag if the employer provides all uniforms.
Uniform provided by employee
 Select this tag if the employee provides all or some uniforms.
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