Cemetery Industry Award

Classification is central under this award because the work streams are specialised and the class structure is more detailed than many small operators expect.

• Do not rely on broad labouring labels. The award's classification structure is specific to cemetery and crematorium work.
• Schedule A separates different job families, including assistant gravedigger, uncertificated gravedigger, operator assistant, memorial person, funeral assistant, funeral supervisor and crematorium operator.
• Class 2 and above roles generally require the licences and accredited short course certificate described in Schedule A, apart from the stated exception for the assistant gravedigger role.

Rostering under this award is structured. The business needs to know whether it is using a standard week or the RDO model and then administer it consistently.

• Full-time employees average 38 hours per week and part-time employees work less than that on a reasonably predictable basis with pro rata conditions.
• Casuals receive the ordinary hourly rate for the classification plus a 25% loading.
• Ordinary hours can average over a maximum 4 week cycle and are worked between 7.00 am and 6.00 pm Monday to Friday.
• By mutual arrangement, employees can work the 20 day, 4 week cycle that accrues one rostered day off through 24 minutes accrued each day worked.

Break compliance matters in cemetery and crematorium work because work often follows service timing and outdoor operational demands.

• Employees must get an unpaid meal break of between 30 and 60 minutes at a mutually agreed time or, if there is no agreement, at a time nominated by the employer.
• Employees cannot be required to work more than 5 consecutive hours without that meal break.
• Full-time and part-time employees also receive two 10 minute paid rest breaks each day.

Allowance handling is a live payroll issue under this award because several duties commonly performed on site can trigger separate payments.

• The award contains an all-purpose industry allowance that flows into penalty and leave calculations where the clause says it does.
• There are also leading hand and first aid allowances.
• Exhumation work has its own specific allowance treatment and should be tracked separately rather than absorbed into a broad site rate.

Where apprenticeships are used, the award has specific cemetery based rules that should be checked before pay is changed.

• Apprentice and adult apprentice rules are tied to the award's cemetery classification structure.
• Adult apprentices have their own minimum wage framework and some protection against a reduction in minimum wage where an existing employee enters a training agreement after the required prior service.
• These settings need to be checked before moving a current employee into an apprenticeship pathway.

After-hours contact rules now need to be considered alongside operational needs in a sensitive service environment where staff are often contacted informally.

• The right to disconnect now sits in the award through the Fair Work Act framework.
• Managers should review after-hours contact practices against the clause and the Act.
• The commencement timing differs for some small business employers.

PR799280, PR799350, PR799506

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

Affected: 14 - Minimum rates, 16 - Allowances, Schedule B - Summary of Hourly Rates of Pay, Schedule C - Summary of Monetary Allowances, Schedule E - Supported Wage System