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FAIR WORK COMMISSION HANDS DOWN EMPLOYMENT CHANGES FOR HOSPITALITY It’s hard to think of an aspect of hospitality more important than staff. They meet and serve everyone who walks through the door, so every interaction has a long-term impact on how well a business will develop. So the decisions affecting the conditions and pay of staff in hospitality coming from the Fair Work Commission this year will certainly have drawn the interest of every bar and restaurant owner. By Walter MacCallum, a Director with Aitken Lawyers
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n face value, a lot of the decisions appear to be good for business and there are some decisions that didn’t get a lot of publicity that deserve more attention because of the way they can help an owner structure how staff work, keep them happy and keep the business humming along in the right direction. The first of the changes came at the start of the year when the Commission reduced Sunday and public holiday penalty rates for full and part-timers, with a view to providing an incentive to increase opening hours and services in hospitality. It’s still too early to tell what effects this reduction in penalty rates (from 175 per cent to 150 per cent) will have because the changes only came into
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force on 1 July. It’s worth noting though, that these changes did not touch rates for casuals. In early July, a full panel of the Fair Work Commission handed down its long-awaited review of casual employment. Making the news was the right of casuals who have worked for more than 12 months with a level of regularity to demand conversion to permanent employment. What wasn’t widely reported, is the fact that about 20 of the nation’s 122 industry modern awards already feature these casual conversion clauses, including the Hospitality Award. At the moment, casuals enjoy a 20 per cent loading on their pay in place of sick leave, annual leave and other benefits of the National Employment