15th

11th

13th

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 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 Automatic Meal Break rules to align with clause 14.1, ensuring that the unpaid meal break applies when an employee works more than five hours.

28th

We have made the following changes to the award:

• Introduced "No minimum shift engagement" work type and shift condition as part of the change for minimum engagement rules for both permanent and casual rulesets. 

Permanent rulesets

• Updated the following rules to apply minimum engagement for overtime on a per engagement basis, ensuring it does not apply where hours of overtime are a continuation of hours worked from the previous day, spanning into the next day:
  • Clause 24.5(a)(ii) – Minimum 3 hours OT on Saturday
  • Clause 24.5(b)(ii) – Minimum 4 hours OT on Sunday

Casual rulesets

• Updated the rule "11.4(a) (Casual minimum engagement)" to apply minimum engagement on a per shift basis, to align with clause 11.1.
  • Removed the separate weekend overtime minimum engagement rules, as the casual minimum engagement already applies to each engagement.

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.

16th

We have updated the first aid allowance to align with the changes in the pay guide effective April 16, 2025, the following changes have been made:

• The First Aid allowance has been revised to a weekly rate across all pay rate templates.
• All rulesets have been updated to apply the First Aid allowance as a weekly payment.

9th

We have made the following updates.

• Updated the rule sets for Shiftworkers: The rule "Working on an RDO system" is now mapped to "Rostered Day Off", clause 13.4.
• Removed the "None" pay category from the rules "Maximum 8 hours per day" and "Maximum 10 hours per day by agreement". This ensures employees are not paid twice for the same time, once as overtime and again as paid leave.
• Updated the "RDO Leave Taken" work type to be automatically enabled for Full-Time, Part-Time, and Casual employees.

26th

We have identified an issue affecting Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave (PFDVL) accrual calculations. The accrual method was changed from "BASED ON A LEAVE YEAR" to "ON AN ONGOING BASIS," which may have caused incorrect leave accruals for some employees. The award has been updated to correct the accrual configuration.

For guidance on making leave adjustments, refer to this support article.

22nd

The following updates have been made to pay categories to align with Fair Work and the pay guide:

1. Casual loading will not apply to the following:

• Casual - Sunday Overtime
• Casual Overtime - Public holiday worked
• Casual - Sunday Callback

2. The following pay categories have been updated to reflect that they do not accrue leave and to align their payment classifications with the ATO specification categories.

• Casual - Sunday Callback
• Casual - Work at a different location - travel time Sundays and public holiday

3. "Casual - Work at a different location - travel time Sundays and public holiday" pay category was updated to align rates with PACT calculator.

Additionally, casual pay rate templates have also been updated to enable the following pay categories:

• Casual Overtime - Less than 10 hour break between shifts
• Casual Overtime - Public holiday worked

1st

We have updated the award to reflect the Fair Work Commission's National Minimum Wage increase detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2023-24 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 2024. 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 2024.

We have also updated the "Community Service Leave Taken" pay category, where it accrues leave. The payment classification has also been updated in line with the ATO specification categories.

The Casual Shiftworkers and Casual Non-Shiftworkers have been updated to include a rule for Paid Family Domestic Violence Leave.

26th

We have updated the Permanent Shiftworkers and Permanent Non-Shiftworkers rule set and added the following rules:

• Per clause 10.5, part-time employees are required to be paid a minimum of 3 consecutive hours on any shift.
• Per clause 10.6, for part-time employees, all time worked in excess of the hours as mutually arranged will be overtime. Overtime would apply outside the employee's standard/advanced hours.

NB: For more information on setting up employee's advanced standard hours, please click here.

Additionally, existing rules to calculate overtime after working an average of 38 hours per week (across all the rule set periods) have been updated to exclusively apply to full time employees only.

4th

We have updated the allowance of Cold temperatures less than -23.3°C under the Permanent Non-Shiftworkers and Permanent Shiftworkers rule set to ensure the correct interpretation would be applied.

1st

From 1 August, all employees are entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave each year. The (Unpaid) Family and Domestic Violence Leave configuration settings under Awards have been updated - the leave category is disabled from award leave allowance templates, and the work type is not enabled automatically for all employees. Please ensure that employees no longer use the unpaid leave category or work type.

1st

We have updated the award to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s national minimum wage increase detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2022-23 decision and includes updates to expense-related allowances. You can find information on the determinations here and here. These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after the 1st July 2023. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run before the first full pay period beginning on or after the 1st of July 2023.

We have updated the award to make the Paid Parental Leave pay category payroll tax exempt.

The award has been updated for Permanent Non-Shiftworkers so that clause 24.5 (a)(i) - Saturday penalty applies when an employee with the relevant tag and advanced standard hours set for a Saturday, works a Saturday as part of their ordinary hours.

The award has been updated to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s national minimum wage increase ‌detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2021-22 decision. This also includes updates to expense-related allowances. Information on the determinations can be found here and here. These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2022. Please install these updates AFTER you have finalised your last pay run prior to the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2022.

Unpaid Pandemic Leave has been disabled as this entitlement has now expired within this award. Additional information can be found on the Fairwork website.

The award has been updated for both Permanent & Casual Shiftworkers so that clause 20.1(c) - Night shift rates apply when an employee works a shift finishing after midnight and at or before 8.30 am in line with the Fair Work Commision modern award.  

The award has also been updated for all rule sets to make sure that when an employee takes any type of paid leave that this is paid at the employee's ordinary rate (except for annual leave, where the employee will be paid the higher of leave loadings or applicable penalties).

The award has been updated so that penalty and overtime rates do not apply when an employee takes leave. 

The Unpaid Pandemic Leave pay category has been updated and counts as service for entitlements under awards and the National Employment Standards.

If any staff have used this category previously, please adjust their Annual, Personal, and Long Service Leave balances for any period of unpaid pandemic leave previously taken.

To identify affected employees and enter the leave accrual see: Calculating Missing Leave Accrual for Unpaid Pandemic Leave Taken.

All rule sets have been updated to make sure that overtime paid due to exceeding period overtime is applied on days where work has been performed, rather than on days where leave has been taken.

The Permanent Non-Shiftworkers rule set has also been updated to make sure the 4-hour minimum engagement requirement for overtime worked on a Sunday is correctly applied.

The award has been updated in line with the ATO's requirements for STP Phase 2 reporting. The reporting of gross earnings is now being disaggregated into distinguishable categories. The pay category payment classifications have been updated in line with the ATO specification categories found here. For further information please see our STP support article.

The rule set pay conditions for Casual Non-Shiftworkers, Permanent Non-Shiftworkers, Casual Shiftworkers, and Permanent Shiftworkers have been updated to exclude leave taken from the Minimum 10-hour break between shifts rules.

The award has been updated to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s national minimum wage increase of 2.5% detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2020-21 decision. This also includes updates to expense-related allowances. Information on the determinations can be found here and here.

These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2021. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run prior to the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2021.

Updates have also been made to the leave category Family & Domestic Violence Leave, so that the balance is displayed in days instead of hours in line with the National Employment Standards.

Once the update is installed, all employees' FDV leave balances will be displayed in days, not hours. This will mean that an employee’s balance may now show as 38 days. For further instruction on how to correct the balance, please see How to Fix Family & Domestic Violence Leave Balance Data.

This update is to ensure that any new installs of this award conducted since 1 July are now captured with the SG increase from 9.5% to 10% for all pay categories. If you have installed this award between 1 July 2021 to 8 July 2021 for the first time, please ensure you select "NO" to preserve custom pay categories. If you were using this award prior to 1 July 2021, then you do not need to select "NO." Further information can be found in Incorrect SG rate used in pay runs article here.

The award pay rate templates have been updated to ensure that the legislated superannuation guarantee (SG) rate will increase automatically from 9.5% to 10% effective from 1 July 2021. Please ensure you install this update prior to 1 July 2021 for this change to take effect.

What does this mean? Any pay run with a date paid on or from 1 July 2021 will automatically calculate SG at 10% of OTE. Additionally, on the 1st of July, we will update references to 9.5% on all applicable screens in Employment Hero Payroll. For more information, including any exclusions, check out this article from the ATO.

The award, as part of Group 2 Awards, has been updated to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s national minimum wage increase of 1.75% detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2019-20 decision. This also includes updates to expense-related allowances. Information on the determinations can be found here and here.

These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 November 2020. Please install these updates AFTER you have finalised your last pay run prior to the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 November 2020.

The award has been updated to reflect the High Court of Australia's decision on the accrual of personal/carer's leave, which overturns the decision made by the Full Federal Court of Australia, with personal/carer's leave being calculated on working days, not hours. Information on the decision can be found here. As such, we have removed the Personal/Carer's (10 days) Leave Allowance templates and updated associated employment agreements. Please note, this update will not remove any of the above from a business where the award was already installed prior to 25 August 2020. However, any new award installs from 25 August 2020 will not display personal/carer's (10 days) leave details.

For further information on migrating from daily personal/carers leave accruals to hourly, please refer here.

The award has been updated to reflect changes made as part of the Fair Work Commission decision around flexibility during coronavirus. The new schedule allows employees to take up to two (2) weeks of unpaid pandemic leave. A new pay category (Unpaid Pandemic Leave Taken), leave category and work type (Unpaid Pandemic Leave) have been created. Also, the rule sets have been updated, where necessary, to include/exclude the work type and leave category to some pay conditions. ‌Further, the leave allowance templates have been updated to ensure this new leave category is enabled and is now accessible for employees to take this leave when required.

Further, under this new schedule employees can take up to twice as much annual leave at a proportionally reduced rate if their employer agrees. The employee's pay rate and leave balance will need to be manually adjusted to half in each pay run for the period of leave.

Due to recent changes to the interpretation of personal/carer's leave accrual under the National Employment Standards, updates have been made to the setup of the award. Further information can be found here. 

A new leave category called Personal/Carer's (10 days) Leave has been created. Also, new leave allowance templates (LATs) have been created specific to 10 days accrual per year for each state, and the LATs have been attached to the current employment agreements for selection options for an employee's LAT in their Employee Default Pay Run screen. Any rules impacted by Personal/Carer's Leave have also been updated with the new leave category. 

Instructions on converting the accruals to the 10-day method can be found here.

Updates to the rule set pay conditions for Casual Non-Shiftworkers, Permanent Non-Shiftworkers, Casual Shiftworkers, and Permanent Shiftworkers in line with clause 24.4(c) - rest period after overtime; to include a rule in relation to paying overtime at a rate of double time if an employee resumes work or continues work without having had ten consecutive hours off duty.

Also, the Public holiday worked overtime pay category has been created and will be paid for all overtime worked on a public holiday. The Public Holiday worked for both ordinary hours and overtime hours pay condition rules have been updated to reflect the minimum requirement for four (4) hours to be paid as per clause 24.5(c)(ii) when working on a public holiday. 

Update to the Casual Shiftworkers and Permanent Shiftworkers pay conditions to remove the clause 22.2(a) - Spread of hours for when hours are worked outside 5:30pm through to 7:00am as this clause relates to non shift workers only.

The employment agreement for Storeworker Grade 4 (dayworker) - Casual was updated to make sure that the Storeworker Grade 4 - Casual pay rate template is applied when selecting this employment agreement option.

Rounding update for Casual pay rate templates.

The award has been updated to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s national minimum wage increase of 3% from its Annual Wage Review 2018-19 decision. This also includes updates to expense-related allowances. Information on the determinations can be found here and here.

These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2019. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run prior to the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2019.

Update to the Casual Shiftworkers and Permanent Shiftworkers pay conditions to include the clause 22.2(a) - Spread of hours for when hours are worked outside 5:30pm through to 7:00am and no other shift conditions apply, these hours will be processed as overtime.

We have also made an update to the rule set pay conditions for Casual Shiftworkers, Casual Non-Shiftworkers, Permanent Shiftworkers and Permanent Non-Shiftworkers to the clause 23.1 Automatic meal break rule. The unpaid meal break will automatically be applied after five hours of work. 

Update to the Casual Shiftworkers and Permanent Shiftworkers pay conditions to include the following options for OT clearing.

25.3(b)(ii) 38hrs in a week
25.3(b)(iii) 76hrs in a fortnight
25.3(b)(iv) 114hrs in three weeks
25.3(b)(v) 152hrs in four weeks

Update to the Permanent Shiftworkers rule 16.1 Meal Allowance. The meal allowance applies to overtime of more than one (1) hour following ordinary hours of work only.

April 2019

Amended Early Morning Shift and Call back while on early morning shift rules for shiftworkers to 6:59 am in lieu 7:00 am.

Update to afternoon shift end time to 6:01pm as per ‌award clause 25.1, which states  the afternoon shift is finishing after 6:00pm and at or before midnight.

The setup of the Payroll Tax Exempt field in Payroll Settings>Pay Categories was replicating the PAYG Exempt field rather than creating a unique identity; when installed into the business settings. An audit has been carried out across the platform and the issue has now been resolved with this update.

An update is available to clause 16.1 - Meal Allowance in the pay condition rule sets to accommodate for Saturday and Sunday worked as ordinary hours or as overtime. The meal allowance applies to overtime in excess of one (1) hour following ordinary hours of work only.

Casual - QLD Leave Allowance template updated with removal of Annual Leave and Personal/Carer's Leave accruals.

The award has been updated to reflect changes made as part of the Fair Work Commission decision 4-year review of modern awards. The determination for the new clause in the modern award allowing employees to take unpaid leave to deal with family and domestic violence can be found here. Family and Domestic Violence Leave applies from the first full pay period on or after 1 August 2018. Further information can be found at the Fair Work Commission website.

Employees, including part-time and casual employees, are entitled to 5 days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave each year of their employment. The five days renew each 12 months of their employment, but does not accumulate if the leave is not used.

A new leave category has been created (Family and Domestic Violence Leave) and a new work type (Family and Domestic Violence Leave taken). ‌The leave allowance templates and any impacted rule conditions have also been updated.

The award has been updated to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s national minimum wage increase of 3.5% from its Annual Wage Review 2017-18 decision. This also includes updates to expense-related allowances.

These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2018. Please install these updates AFTER you have finalised your last pay run prior to the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2018.

Additionally, the following changes have been made as part of this update:

1. The payment classification settings for allowance-based pay categories have been updated as per STP requirements.
2. We have created a new rule - 10.3(g) Apply Overtime - Over Advanced Standard Hours - Part-Time. This rule reflects the following provisions of clause 10.3(g):

• the hours worked each day;
• which days of the week the employee will work;
• the actual starting and finishing times of each day.

Previously, we could only assess the number of hours worked per week for overtime purposes using the existing Apply Overtime - Over Standard Hours - Part Time rule. Now, however, we can assess the Advanced Standard Work Hours as set up within the employee's Pay Run Defaults screen.

For example, if an employee's Advanced Standard Work Hours were as follows:

The rule will assess hours as follows:

1. Any time worked on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday will be deemed overtime;
2. Any time worked before the start times on Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday will be deemed overtime; and
3. Any time worked after the end times on Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday will be deemed overtime.

N.B:

(a) This rule only works where Advanced Standard Work Hours have been set up using start and finish times, NOT hours only;

(b) If no Advanced Standard Work Hours have been set up for a part-time employee, then all hours will be deemed overtime.

An update is available which fixes an issue of pay rate templates for casuals using the same default primary pay category as permanent employees. It also removes Bonuses and Commissions from the pay rate template, which are now included as part of the default pay categories provided when creating a new business.

An update is available which now allows us to consolidate both the progression of pay rates based on both date of birth and anniversary date within the same employment agreement. As an end user, this means that once the employment agreement for a level of the award is chosen, it will not need to be changed while the employee remains on that level. The rate of pay will automatically update as needed if the employee has a birthday or accrues another year of service (and the award requires an increased rate).

After applying this update, it will be important to follow these steps:

1. Review your employee list and identify employees who are currently assigned as a Storage Level 1 or Wholesale Level 1 (either Day worker or Shiftworker)

2. Go to Employee > Pay run defaults and reassign them a new employment agreement. As an example, if the employment agreement was previously called Wholesale Level 1 on commencement (daywork) will now simply be called Level 1 (daywork)

The award will now look at both the employees age and the length of their service (with reference to their anniversary date) and automatically update their rate of pay as they progress.