The Fair Work Commission (FWC) recently proposed new annualised award wage provisions for the Restaurant Industry Award 2020 (Restaurant Award) and the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 (Hospitality Award). This proposal does not affect the existing annualised wage arrangements for managerial staff in the Hospitality Award.

The proposed new provisions, if confirmed, would come into effect on 1 September 2022. They would require:

• any annualised wage arrangement to be recorded in writing (the contract);
• the contract to specify an employee’s annualised wage, which would need to be 25% greater than the minimum wage for the relevant classification in the Restaurant Award or the Hospitality Award (as relevant);
• the contract to specify the provisions of the Restaurant Award or the Hospitality Award (as relevant) to be compensated by the annualised wage;
• the contract to specify the limitations on hours that could be worked before additional payments would be payable, being in a 4-week cycle:
  • no more than 38 ordinary hours per week;
  • no more than 18 hours that attract penalty rates per week in that cycle, subject to the below exclusion; and
  • no more than 12 overtime hours per week in that cycle, subject to the below exclusion; and
• an annual audit to be undertaken to ensure employees are not underpaid.

[Exclusion: Penalty hours between 7pm to midnight under the Hospitality Award and 10pm to midnight under the Restaurant Award would not be included in the 18-hour penalty and 12-hour overtime limits.]

By Kelly Godfrey