AHA|SA MEMBER INFORMATION
Greater Flexibility on the Agenda for Hospitality Award OWEN WEBB - AHA|SA WORKPLACE RELATIONS MANAGER The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has recently signalled their intentions for greater flexibilities to be introduced into the Hospitality Award, with a Full Bench outlining their preliminary views with respect to loaded rates arrangements. In this article we look at the Australian Hotels Association’s (AHA) recent application to introduce “loaded rates” into the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 (HIGA). BACKGROUND On 9 December 2020, the then Minister for Industrial Relations, the Hon Christian Porter MP wrote to the President of the Fair Work Commission (FWC), Justice Ross. Minister Porter sought that the FWC commence a process of looking into creating greater flexibilities in Modern Awards for those industries such as hospitality, that had been significant impacted from the Coronavirus pandemic. Minister Porter in particular referred to the potential of looking at simplified pay arrangements such as “loaded rates” in order to try and reduce administrative costs and complexities for small businesses interpreting awards, as well as the potential of streamlining classification structures wherever possible. Back to Contents
The FWC subsequently commenced the Award Flexibility – Hospitality and Retail Sectors Major Case (AM2021/73) in December 2020, calling for any interested parties to put forward any proposals for award variations by the end of January 2021. The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) filed an initial application seeking four separate variations to the HIGA, including: • Consolidation of junior employee classification rates into one stream • Simplification of hours of work arrangements • Simplification of late night and early morning penalties (to be paid on a pro-rata basis) • Introduction of loaded rates A series of conferences were held between interested parties throughout February and March before a Full Bench of the FWC. On 19 July 2021, the AHA filed a refined application to vary the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 with the introduction of a proposed new Schedule K – Loaded Rate Arrangements and Schedule L – Loaded Rate Arrangement Form. W W W . A H A S A . A S N . A U
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