Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services Award

Coverage is the first compliance issue under this award, especially in mixed health settings where more than one health award may be in play.

• Check both the industry limb and the occupation limb before applying the award.
• Do not assume the award applies just because the business provides health services.
• Check the specific overlap with the Nurses Award 2020 and Medical Practitioners Award 2020 early.
• If labour hire is involved, test the host work and the exclusion rules as well.

Classification drives minimum rates, progression and coverage. The award expects the role family to be identified properly and documented in writing.

• Give each employee a written classification when employment starts and update it if the classification changes.
• Do not collapse Dental Assistant, Health Worker and Health Practitioner roles into one generic label.
• Use Schedule A as the control point because it draws important distinctions between these role families.
• Build annual progression reviews into payroll administration for employees who can move up within a grade.

Loose engagement paperwork is a common payroll risk under this award. Part-time patterns and casual minimums need to be set clearly from the start.

• Part-time arrangements must be agreed in writing before work starts, including hours, days and start and finish times.
• Part-time employees must be rostered for at least 4 consecutive hours on a shift.
• Any work beyond the written part-time arrangement is overtime.
• Casual employees have a minimum engagement of 3 hours.

Rostering needs to be built around the fortnightly averaging rule, the daily cap and the notice rules for changing start and finish times.

• Full-time ordinary hours average 38 hours per week over a fortnight.
• No more than 10 ordinary hours can be worked in a day, excluding meal breaks.
• For most employees, ordinary hours sit within the 7.00 am to 7.00 pm Monday to Friday span unless they are shiftworkers.
• Daily start and finish times cannot usually be changed without 7 working days notice.

Allowance handling and after-hours contact are both practical compliance issues in community health settings and both need clear internal controls.

• Pay allowances whenever clause 18 says they are payable.
• The award includes a bilingual qualification allowance where the employee is competently bilingual and regularly required to use the additional language in their duties.
• Keep allowances separately identified in payroll records.
• Treat on-call and emergency contact as specific exceptions, not a general licence for after-hours contact.

This award contains several traps where employers can move too quickly from operational need to an incorrect payroll or roster assumption.

• On-hire coverage can extend into public or private medical practice, but only for covered occupations and subject to the exclusions.
• Part-time extra hours are not automatically ordinary time.
• After-hours contact remains tightly framed by clause 13A.

PR799280, PR799395, PR799550

The current consolidated award incorporates these recent variation determinations. Use the consolidated wording when checking any affected clause, schedule, rate or allowance.

Affected: 16 - Minimum rates, 18 - Allowances, 20 - Overtime, Schedule B - Summary of Hourly Rates of Pay, Schedule C - Summary of Monetary Allowances, Schedule D - Supported Wage System