It’s important that you understand which Award/s apply to your business and you need to know as there could be a number of Awards you need to pay your employees against.  Understanding which job classification applies under an Award for each employee can also be confusing.  If you don’t get it right you can end up having to back pay up to six years of underpayments for both wages and allowances and this can be a very costly exercise.  In addition, there can be business and director fines imposed by Fair Work.

Most employees will be covered by an Award which is specific to a particular industry but this can mean multiple Awards depending on what your business does.  For example if you are a manufacturer you could be covered by the Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award, you could office staff who are covered by the Clerks – Private Sector Award and you could have transport staff covered by the Road Transport and Distribution Award so navigating these awards can be complex.   In addition, you need to monitor any amendments to Awards throughout the year and in most cases Awards increase wage rates twice a year.  If you need assistance with 1. understanding which Award/s apply to you and 2. classifying each of your employees against the Award to ensure they are correctly paid please get in touch.