State Government Agencies Award

Begin with the employer's legal identity, then test the employee's classification and every relevant exclusion. This is not a general State government award.

• Confirm that the employer is an incorporated body falling within the specific description in clause 4.1. A government connection by itself is insufficient.
• Check that the employee fits a classification in clause 15 and Schedule A.
• Exclude State public service bodies.
• Check whether the employer is covered by any industry award listed in clause 4.3 before applying this award.
• Apply the separate on-hire and group training coverage provisions where relevant and check their exclusions.

Instrument type and competing award coverage must be checked precisely. Similar terminology does not remove the need to identify the governing instrument.

• Use the precise names of any modern enterprise award, enterprise instrument or State reference public sector instrument being considered.
• Do not use enterprise agreement as shorthand for every instrument listed in clause 4.6.
• If the employer is covered by more than one award, select the classification most appropriate to the employee's work and normal work environment.
• If this award contains no classification for the employee, check whether an award with occupational coverage may apply.

The award classifies positions through streams, grades and work value levels. A current position description is essential to a defensible decision.

• Place the position in the Administrative, Technical, Professional or General/Field work stream.
• Use the documented position description required by clause 12.5 and compare the position with the statements in Schedule A.
• A suitably qualified or experienced employee may commence at any level within a grade where the employer determines this under clause 12.3.
• Apply the relevant grade, work value level and minimum rate in clause 15.
• Conduct any reclassification using the agreed objective criteria required by clause 12.4.

The written engagement notice should make the employment category, probation, fixed term and governing instruments clear from the outset.

• At engagement, advise the employee in writing of the employment category.
• State whether a probationary period applies and its duration.
• For a fixed-term employee, state the specific term of engagement.
• Identify the instruments governing the employee's terms and conditions.
• A full-time employee is engaged for 38 hours per week.

Part-time rosters and minimum daily engagements must be agreed and administered carefully. Remote work does not create an automatic exception.

• Apply award entitlements to part-time employees on a pro rata basis.
• For part-time employment, agree a roster stating the working days in each fortnight, the hours worked on those days and the number of hours on each working day.
• Include an agreed process for varying part-time hours. The agreed rostered hours are the employee's ordinary hours.
• Apply the minimum daily payment to part-time and casual employees unless the agreed work-from-home or exceptional-circumstances exception applies.
• For a casual employee, pay the applicable minimum hourly rate and award-prescribed casual loading for ordinary hours.

The ordinary-hours pattern differs for shiftworkers and other employees. Rosters must also accommodate both meal-break triggers.

• For an employee other than a shiftworker, ordinary hours are 38 per week over 5 days, Monday to Friday, between 7.00 am and 6.30 pm.
• For a shiftworker, ordinary hours average 38 per week over 4 weeks, totalling 152 hours.
• Arrange actual starting and finishing times through workplace work rules.
• Provide a meal period of at least 20 minutes no later than 5 hours after work starts.
• Where work continues for at least 2 hours after the normal finishing time, provide a second meal break of at least 20 minutes. Breaks may be staggered to meet operational requirements.

Workplace contact practices and roster expectations must respect the right to disconnect provisions in the award and Fair Work Act.

• Recognise the employee's statutory right to refuse work-related contact outside working hours unless the refusal would be unreasonable.
• Do not directly or indirectly prevent an employee from exercising the right to disconnect.
• Deal with concerns about after-hours contact through the statutory and award processes rather than assuming constant availability.

The award combines unusual salary rules with a tightly documented process for exchanging overtime for time off. Payroll must address both before an arrangement is used.

• Where an employee is required to work outside ordinary hours, determine whether the award requires overtime, shiftwork payment or validly agreed time off.
• Check the salary-based exclusion from overtime payment in clause 20.2.
• Apply the cap in clause 20.3 when calculating the hourly rate for overtime.
• Use a separate written agreement for each amount of overtime to be exchanged for time off. Record the overtime hours and when they were worked.
• Provide time off hour for hour within 6 months. Pay untaken time, or time the employee asks to have paid, at the overtime rate that applied when the work was performed.

Allowance eligibility depends on nomination, required expenditure, overtime circumstances or agreed vehicle use. Record those facts before processing payroll.

• Pay the first aid allowance where the employer nominates an employee who holds the specified first aid certificate or an equivalent certificate.
• Reimburse an employee required to provide necessary instruments, equipment, tools, stationery or furniture, unless the employer supplies those items.
• Check the detailed overtime meal allowance conditions, including whether overtime adjoins ordinary duty, its duration and any qualifying meal break or safety restriction.
• Where agreed private vehicle use occurs in the course of duties, apply the relevant allowance conditions.

PR799280, PR799401, PR799556

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, 18 - Allowances, Schedule B - Summary of Hourly Rates of Pay, Schedule C - Summary of Monetary Allowances, Schedule D - Supported Wage System