Shutdown rules for modern awards
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From May 1 2023, rules around directing and taking annual leave during a shutdown period under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020 and the Nurses Award 2020 will be updated.
Previous versions of the awards did not specify the amount of notice they were required to provide employees, nor did it outline how the direction to take annual leave should be communicated by employers.
A shutdown occurs when a business temporarily closes, such as during the Christmas and New Year period. The rules have been updated to include the following:
- Employers may require employees to take paid annual leave during a temporary shutdown
- Employers must provide at least 28 days’ written notice of the temporary shutdown period to all impacted employees
- The requirement to take annual leave must be reasonable
- Notice periods can be reduced if the majority of affected employees and their employer agree
- If an employee doesn’t have enough annual leave to cover all of the shutdown, the employee and employer can agree to alternative options for days not covered. This may include:
o Using other paid time off such as time off in lieu,
o Annual leave in advance, or
o Taking leave without pay.
Should public holidays occur during a shutdown period, employees will be paid for the public holidays during this period which fall on days they would normally work.
All employees will continue to accumulate annual leave during a shutdown period,unless they’re taking leave without pay.
Shutdown provisions in modern awards:
Health Professionals and Support Services Award – Clause 27.5 Direction to take annual leave during shutdown
Nurses Award – Clause 22.7 Direction to take annual leave during shutdown
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Workplace Relations Support can help you with any questions you may have with what to pay your staff on public holidays coming up in the future. You can contact us via phone (07) 3872 2222 and email support workplacerelations@amaq.com.au. |
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Workplace Relations Toolkit Workplace Relations Toolkit provides its subscribers with up to date information about entitlements in regards to pay rate increases and public holiday payments for your practice. It also comes with a range of policy templates, in particular, leave policies, which will assist with dealing with bulk leave applications during these holiday periods. |
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Workplace Relations Consultancy Workplace Relations Consultancy can review your current processes with regards to staff payments or perform back payment calculations where staff may have been paid incorrectly in the past. |