Hair and Beauty Industry Award

Coverage is activity based and has an important industry exclusion. Do not assume every beauty or salon role falls here.

• Check that the business is carrying out hair and beauty industry activities listed in clause 4.2 and that the employee fits a Schedule A classification.
• The award extends to on-hire employees and group training arrangements in covered businesses.
• The award expressly excludes hair and beauty work performed in general retailing and some other industries.
• If more than one award could apply, clause 4.6 sends you to the classification most appropriate to the work and environment.

The classification structure is qualification driven. A salon should classify by the actual role and the qualification standard built into Schedule A.

• Schedule A links levels to both role and qualification, from receptionist or salon assistant through to qualified beauty therapists and higher qualified hairdressers.
• Junior rates and apprentice, trainee and graduate rates are dealt with separately from standard adult rates.
• If you recruit or promote into a higher qualified role, update the classification rather than leaving the employee at an old level.
• Keep evidence of the qualification or equivalent qualification you relied on.

Most salon payroll problems start with weak engagement paperwork. Build the part-time pattern and minimum engagement rules into onboarding.

• Tell each employee at engagement whether they are full-time, part-time or casual.
• Part-time employees need a written regular pattern including hours each day, days of the week, start and finish times and meal break details.
• Part-time and casual employees both have a minimum daily engagement.
• Time worked beyond the agreed part-time pattern is overtime, and casual payment timing is dealt with separately in clause 11.6.

Rostering and payroll are tightly linked under this award. Check span of hours, long days, overtime and penalties as one package.

• Ordinary hours for full-time employees are averaged under the award and must sit within the ordinary span for the relevant day.
• The ordinary span differs across weekdays, Saturday and Sunday, so rosters need to be checked against the day worked.
• The award has a daily ordinary hours cap, with limited ways to roster a longer ordinary day.
• Breaks, overtime and penalty rates need to be checked together with the roster rather than after the roster has already been worked.

Keep award rules, NES issues and payroll coding separate. In practice, allowance coding is often where salon payroll starts to drift.

• The NES continue to apply alongside the award.
• Allowances need to be separately identified in pay records and payslips.
• Manager's allowance, first aid, special clothing, tool, meal and motor vehicle issues are easy to miss in smaller salons.

Do not let routine after-hours messaging become an unexamined part of the roster system. The Act and the award treat it separately.

• The award recognises the statutory right to disconnect and says an employer must not directly or indirectly prevent an employee from exercising it under the Act.
• That matters in salon businesses that rely on after-hours messaging about shifts, emergencies or late clients.

PR799280, PR799286, PR799444

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

Affected: 17 - Minimum rates, 18 - Apprentice, trainee and graduate rates, 20 - Allowances, Schedule B - Summary of Hourly Rates of Pay, Schedule C - Summary of Monetary Allowances, Schedule D - Supported Wage System