Changes to the Nurses Award

The Nurses Award 2010 will be replaced by the Nurses Award 2020 on 9 September 2021. There are no real substantive changes, just clarification of certain provisions of the award and a name change. Here are the key changes.

• The varied Award will have the year ‘2020' in its title instead of ‘2010’.
• The definition of ‘casual hourly rate‘ in clause 2 will cross-reference clause 11.2 to maintain consistency and establish a uniform definition throughout the Award.
• Clarification that any shift loadings and penalty rates are applied to the casually loaded rate of pay e.g.: 
  • clause 11.5 has been redrafted to better explain the relationship between casual loading and shift work to make it clear the ‘ordinary rate of pay’ for casual employees is the casual loaded rate; and
  • clauses 13.4(c) headed 'Rest breaks between rostered work', 19.4(c) headed 'Rest period after overtime' and 28.2(b) headed 'Payment for work done on public holidays' have been varied to more clearly identify that the penalty rates specified are applied to the ‘casual hourly rate in the case of a casual employee’.
• Variations to several clauses to ensure wording is consistent and clauses are expressly cross-referenced to give clarity to their meaning. 
• Clause 28.6 headed 'Additional leave days by mutual agreement' has been varied to clearly state that it does not apply to casual employees.
• Schedule X.1 of Schedule X titled 'Additional Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic's period of operation' has been extended to operate to 31 December 2021. See the Fair Work Commission determination (AM2021/15 and Ors) to have Schedule X of the Nurses Award 2020 operative until 31 December 2021.
• Rates of pay and allowances effective from the start of the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2021, have been added as per the Annual Wage Review 2020-21 decision.