Awards, agreements and contracts
Skildare will guide your organisation through this potential minefield to ensure you are compliant and your business is protected.
Why is this
important to my business?
Incorrectly applying entitlements under awards, enterprise agreements, and contracts is one of the leading people risks for businesses, regardless of size. Understanding often complex payroll requirements and implementing clear written employment contracts outlining key rights and responsibilities are essential for reducing risk to your business.
Which Awards apply to my employees?
What are our employees' minimum entitlements?
Clear and concise employment contracts
"With so many brilliant people behind the answers to our questions we know at the end of the day we're making the best decisions."
Russell Shaw – Dynamic Ability Support
When a business hires an employee it becomes bound by a broad range of legislative responsibilities and obligations across multiple state and federal laws.
One of the most prominent of these is the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). The Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) is the overarching legislation that sets out the minimum rights and responsibilities for most workplaces in Australia. This legislation also governs all our Modern Awards, each stipulating specific legally binding safety net (minimum) entitlements and employee and employer obligations. These awards can be industry or occupation awards, e.g. Building and Construction General Onsite Award 2020 (industry award) or Clerks Private Sector Award 2020 (occupation award).
In recent years there have been countless examples of companies caught incorrectly paying or not providing the minimum entitlements to their employees, despite their best intentions. This has resulted in substantial reputational damage, angst, conflict, and financial hardship, sometimes to the point of ruin.
The reality is, Australia has a very complex system of industrial awards and agreements that can be very challenging to navigate and apply correctly. One seemingly small error, repeated throughout an employee’s tenure, can lead to substantial financial liabilities and which is rarely isolated to one employee.
Skildare has extensive experience in interpreting all awards across all industries, including not-for-profit, building and construction, manufacturing, health care, professional services, aged-care, mining, transport, defence, education, and many more. Our expertise lies in identifying what each employer’s obligations and responsibilities are and developing straightforward strategies and processes to ensure these are met always.
Further, a well-defined employment agreement/contract forms the cornerstone of the official relationship between the employer and employee and ensures that all parties are aware of their respective obligations. Written contracts should identify a multitude of employment conditions, including hours of work, rate of pay, place of work, relevant industrial instruments that apply, leave entitlements, termination clause to name a few.
