General Retail Industry Award 2020 Variation – Part-Time Flexibility

NATIONAL

MGA TMA has recently partnered with the SDA, ACTU, and the AWA in a Fair Work Commission (FWC) application to amend the General Retail Industry Award (GRIA) to include flexibility for part-time employees.

MGA TMA has been involved in numerous conferences and hearings in February and March 2021 before the FWC to advocate for such change.

Currently, variation of hours of part-time employees under the GRIA is rigid, limited in scope, and adds burdensome red tape on businesses, particularly small to medium-sized enterprises that lack human resource and payroll departments. The GRIA in its present form allows businesses to vary the hours of their part-time employees but requires a mutual agreement in writing, and the effect of the change can only be from a future date or time. Failing to follow these requirements will entitle parttime employees to overtime rates for hours worked more than their ordinary agreed hours. The purpose of the application is to provide further clarity to the GRIA and offer Members flexibility to vary hours on both an ad-hoc and longterm basis. Most crucial in small to medium-sized businesses are the short-term changes to shifts, where Members are not offered adequate notice to fill shifts cancelled by staff. MGA TMA believes that the proposal is straightforward and easy to understand, provides certainty, and contains a range of safeguards to protect both Members and the employees’ interests. For ad-hoc changes, MGA TMA’s proposal still requires businesses to vary the hours of their part-time employees by mutual agreement in writing but: • lesser formal means can be utilised such as text messages or emails to agree; and • the agreement can be recorded at or by the end of the changed shift, or as soon as reasonably practicable.

For long term or extended changes, the standard rules of the GRIA apply, but are complemented by the lesser formal means above.

In addition to these benefits, the proposal put forward will be temporary in nature, only having an operational period of 18 months from the date of its approval, subject to further review. To ensure greater flexibility, MGA sought a voluntarily clause to be incorporated into the GRIA in the form of a “schedule”. This means that businesses and their employees can freely elect to utilise the clause at their own initiative and discretion. It will remain available to businesses to continue to shape their working arrangements according to the main terms of the GRIA.

MGA will continue to back its joined proposal as it is a sensible and measured change for the retail industry, especially as it progresses through its recovery from the negative impacts of COVID-19. This temporary change to the GRIA will assist Members in shifting their workforce from casual to permanent employment. Accordingly, this will offer additional hours of work to their employees at a reduced cost whilst guaranteeing that their businesses are operating at full capacity, without gaps in their workforce. The positive impacts of achieving such certainty are both economic and social for both businesses and their employees. The application remains afoot, and Members will be provided with a further update in due course.

Members of SDA, ACTU and the AWA partnered with MGA TMA in discussions with FWC via zoom.