Restaurant Industry Award

Coverage is the first risk area because restaurant work often sits near hospitality, clubs and fast food boundaries that this award does not cover.

• Start with the business activity and the setting where the venue operates, not just the menu or trading name.
• A standalone restaurant, cafe, reception centre, night club or roadhouse may point to this award.
• If the venue operates in an excluded setting, or another award classification is more appropriate to the work and industry, this award may not be the right fit.

Weak part time paperwork is one of the fastest ways to create payroll and rostering disputes in restaurant businesses where hours change from week to week.

• A part time employee must have reasonably predictable hours of work.
• At engagement, the employer and employee must agree in writing on guaranteed hours and the days and times the employee is available to work them.
• A part time employee must not be rostered outside their availability, for more than 11.5 hours in a day, for fewer than 3 hours in a day, and must have 2 days off each week.

Long running roster patterns and changed availability need to be dealt with formally, not left to informal scheduling habits.

• If a part time employee has regularly worked above their guaranteed hours for at least 12 months, they may ask in writing to increase those guaranteed hours.
• A refusal must be on reasonable business grounds and given in writing.
• If the employee has a genuine and ongoing change in personal circumstances, they may change their availability with written notice, and the parties may need to reset guaranteed hours.

Restaurant rosters need to be built around the award's daily limits and notice rules, not only around trading demand for the week.

• Ordinary hours rules set daily limits, minimum breaks between shifts, minimum days off in a 4 week period and a maximum spread for split shifts.
• Full time and part time rosters must show start and finish times.
• Roster changes generally need mutual agreement or 7 days notice, and rostered days off should usually be notified at least 2 weeks ahead where practicable.

Most restaurant underpayments come from the details around the base rate, especially classification, split shifts, overtime and weekend or public holiday work.

• The minimum rates table separates food and beverage, kitchen, cook, clerical, store and security streams, so job titles alone are not enough.
• Meal, split shift, tool and equipment, and special clothing obligations can all arise in specific circumstances.
• Overtime, penalty rates and allowances should be shown clearly in payroll records rather than buried inside a flat rate.

Do not treat the award as a complete answer on its own. It sits inside a wider workplace relations framework that still has to be checked.

• The award does not displace the NES.
• Enterprise instruments, State reference public sector awards and some other industry awards can displace this award.
• Flexible working arrangement requests sit in the NES, even when the employee is otherwise covered by this award.

PR799280, PR799399, PR799554

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

Affected: 18 - Minimum rates, 21 - Allowances, 24 - Penalty rates, Schedule B - Summary of Hourly Rates of Pay, Schedule C - Summary of Monetary Allowances, Schedule E - Supported Wage System