Sporting Organisations Award

The biggest early mistake is assuming that working in sport is enough. You need the right employer, the right role, and no exclusion taking the employee out.

• Check that the employer is the kind of sporting organisation described in clause 4.1.
• Then work through the exclusions in clause 4.3 before assuming the employee is covered.
• Use Schedule A to decide whether the role is genuinely a coaching role or a clerical and administrative role, because later clauses treat those streams differently.
• If another award may also be relevant, apply clause 4.6 and classify by the work actually performed and the usual working environment.

Part-time sport work often looks flexible in practice, but the award expects a written pattern and recognises overtime once the agreed pattern is exceeded.

• Part-time employees need a written regular pattern showing hours, days and start and finish times.
• Any later change must fit the award's variation rules and should not be treated as a casual roster convenience.
• Part-time employees must be rostered in blocks of at least 4 hours on any day.
• Time worked beyond the mutually arranged hours is overtime under clause 10.6.

This award does not let employers roster coaches and office staff as if they were one workforce with identical hours rules.

• For clerical and administrative staff, ordinary hours average 38 per week and sit within the spread in clause 13.1.
• Clause 13.1 also sets the permitted full-time patterns and the daily maximum rules for that stream.
• Coaching staff ordinary hours are dealt with through the NES rather than the detailed clerical roster clause.
• Employees must receive the meal break required by clause 14 within the award's timing rules.

Sporting organisations often spend more on travel and event work than on office-based work. The award treats those costs as compliance items, not just finance items.

• Reimburse authorised use of a private motor vehicle under clause 17.3.
• Reimburse reasonable documented out-of-pocket expenses incurred in the course of employment under clause 17.4.
• Check travel costs, meal reimbursement while travelling, overnight expenses and coach training obligations before approving travel-heavy roles or events.
• Keep travel and expense items separate from base pay so they can be reviewed later.

After-hours contact is common in sport, but the award now makes that issue visible and requires a more disciplined approach.

• Review whether after-hours calls, messages and competition-day contact are actually reasonable rather than merely habitual.
• Clause 13A says the employer must not directly or indirectly prevent an employee from exercising the right to disconnect under the Act.
• The award still operates alongside the NES, and any flexibility arrangement must follow the formal written process.

Classification discipline matters because it drives which hours rules and expense rules apply later on. Get the foundation right at engagement.

• Tell employees at engagement whether they are full-time, part-time or casual.
• Classify by the level of competency and skill required, which Schedule A identifies as the key classification issue.
• Do not rely on titles alone, especially where one employee mixes development, coaching and administrative duties.

PR799280, PR799362, PR799517

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

Affected: 15 - Minimum rates, 17 - Allowances, Schedule B - Summary of Hourly Rates of Pay, Schedule C - Summary of Monetary Allowances, Schedule D - Supported Wage System