The Clerks Private Sector Award is a complex and ever-evolving Modern Award focused in several sectors and has a broad coverage in one of the country's biggest industries.
The Clerks Private Sector Award applies to employees engaged in clerical work which can include:
You can also read our article that covers the 7 conditions that you didn’t know existed in the Clerks Private Sector Award.
In addition, you can download a FREE copy of our Clerks Award eBook that covers everything you need to know about the modern award, without the jargon which comes with a BONUS payroll processing checklist.
This summary will provide you a comprehensive understanding of everything you need to know about the Clerks Private Sector Award to ensure you have maximum Fair Work compliance.
Disclaimer:
Please note that every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided in this guide is accurate. You should note, however, that the information is intended as a guide only, providing an overview of general information available. This guide is not intended to be an exhaustive source of information and should not be seen to constitute legal or tax advice. You should, where necessary, seek a second professional opinion for any legal or tax issues raised in your business affairs.
Employers should note that clerical work can potentially span across many industries. Suppose you have employees who are completing clerical work. In that case, there is a high chance that the clerical award covers your employee even though your business is not covered by the clerical award or provides clerical services.
The Clerks Private Sector Award does not cover:
The Clerks Private Sector Award also does not cover employers covered by any of the following industry awards for their employees:
In cases where more than one modern award covers an employer, the employee is covered by the modern award containing the classification that’s best suited to the work they’re performing.
An employee covered by the Clerks Private Sector Award must be either:
To be classified as a full-time employee, you are either:
Employees can either be paid per hour or as an annualised salary.
To be classified as a part-time employee under the Clerks Private Sector Award, you must:
For example, a part-time employee works on Wednesday and Thursday between 9am and 5pm. They’ve been employed for 16 guaranteed hours per week. If they start earlier (e.g. 8am to 4pm) or work any additional hours outside of the rostered agreement overtime rates will apply.
A part-time employee must be paid a minimum of 3 hours per shift.
Any changes to the guaranteed hours must only occur if it’s been made as a written agreement between the employee and employer.
Also, changes to an employees’ availability must be changed only where personal circumstances have changed and provided with 14 days’ written notice.
Casual employees are classified as employees with no guaranteed hours of work or works with irregular patterns under the Clerks Private Sector Award.
Because of this, casual employees are paid an additional 25% loading on top of their base rate of pay as they don’t receive annual leave and personal/carer’s leave entitlements, redundancy benefits and other entitlements that part-time and full-time employees received.
A minimum of 3 hours of work per shift is required for casual employees.
|
Shift Type |
Penalty Rate (% of Minimum Hourly Rate) |
|
Afternoon shift |
115% |
|
Night shift |
115% |
|
Permanent Night Shift |
130% |
|
Saturday, Sunday or Public Holiday - All day |
150% |
Any hours worked outside of this time will need to be paid overtime.
The maximum number of ordinary hours that can be worked on a single day is 10 hours, excluding unpaid meal breaks.
An employee who works on their rostered day off will have that shift treated as overtime.
Employers and employees can make an agreement to change the ordinary spread of hours under the Clerks Award in a few different ways. This includes when an employer makes an agreement with:
The parties can agree to change the spread of hours by shifting them back or forward by up to an hour.
For example, 6 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday or 8 am to 1.30 pm Saturday.
Also, employees are entitled to paid rest breaks depending on the number of worked hours on a single day based on the below table:
|
Hours Worked |
Paid Breaks |
Unpaid Breaks |
|
More than 3 hours but no more than 8 ordinary hours |
One 10 minute paid break |
30 to 60-minute unpaid meal break must be taken within the first 5 hours worked |
|
More than 8 ordinary hours |
Two 10 minute paid breaks |
30 to 60-minute unpaid meal break must be taken within the first 5 hours worked |
|
More than 4 hours overtime on a Saturday morning |
One 10 minute paid break |
30 to 60-minute unpaid meal break must be taken within the first 5 hours worked |
For any employees who work through their unpaid meal break, the employer needs to pay 200% of the minimum hourly rate from the time the meal break would have started until a break is allowed.
The Clerks Award is silent on whether a meal break for shiftworkers is paid or not. It is our interpretation that meal breaks for shiftworkers should be considered as paid.
Each new financial year brings a change to the National Minimum Wage and the Award Minimum Wages.
Our pay rate cheat sheet (which you can access by downloading the Clerks Award eBook) provides more information regarding the most recent minimum wage.
Employers must ensure that a salary staff's annual wage can't be less than what they would've been paid over the year if they were paid all the award entitlements for their job.
If you have salary staff covered by the Clerks Private Sector Award, check out our Ultimate Guide on Annualised Salary Changes.
As of 1 July 2022, however, employers are required to pay a super guarantee on behalf of eligible employees, regardless of how much they are paid.
Currently, a rate of 11.5% of an employee’s ordinary earnings must be contributed.
Search our database for all relevant allowances to your modern award.
For example, if a receptionist is working an office supervisor shift for a day, they will need to be paid the office supervisor’s classification pay rate for the full day.
The below chart are the overtime rates applicable depending on when the overtime is worked:
|
Hours of overtime worked each day |
Overtime rate (% of minimum hourly rate) |
|
Monday - Saturday for the first 2 hours of overtime |
150% |
|
Monday - Saturday after the first 2 hours of overtime |
200% |
|
Sunday - All day |
200% |
|
Public holiday - All day |
250% |
There are also additional conditions applicable for overtime:
|
Overtime hours worked |
Overtime Rate (% of minimum hourly rate) |
|
When you exceed ordinary weekly hours: |
|
|
First 3 hours |
150% |
|
After 3 hours |
200% |
|
When you exceed ordinary daily hours: |
|
|
First 2 Hours |
150% |
|
After 2 Hours |
200% |
|
Saturday, Sunday & Public Holidays |
200% |
Employers must pay a minimum of 5 hours at the overtime rate if:
Employers must pay employees at the overtime rate in the table above if an employee needs to return to work after their usual finishing hour for that specific day.
In this case, the Clerks Private Sector Award enforces that an employee must be paid a minimum of 3 hours.
For example, an employee worked on Monday at 7am and finished at 11am before being directed to return to work between 2pm and 7pm that same day. In this situation, they will be paid overtime rate of 150% for the first 2 hours and 200% for the subsequent worked between 2pm and 7pm.
When an employee covered by the Clerks Private Sector Award works overtime, there must be at least 10 consecutive hours of rest between the end of the overtime shift to the start of the next shift, wherever reasonably practical.
If it’s not possible and an employee either continue to work or resumes work without at least 10 consecutive hours of rest, then the following will apply:
The Clerks Private Sector Award indicates that an employee and employer can agree in writing that the employee will take time off instead of being paid for overtime worked. The period taken off needs to be the same number of hours worked in overtime.
For example, an employee working 4 hours of overtime is entitled to taking 4 hours of time off.
The written agreement should include:
The time off needs to be taken within 6 months from the time the overtime was worked or at an agreed time if it’s beyond 6 months.
If an employee doesn’t take time off within 6 months and nothing has been agreed beyond the 6 months, then the employer must pay in the next pay period for the overtime worked.
Example:
An employee worked 4 hours overtime on a Tuesday night.
She had agreed with her employer to receive time off as opposed to getting paid for her overtime hours.
According to the overtime rates, she is entitled to receive 200% of her ordinary hourly rate. So, her time off calculation will be as follows:
4 hours x 200% overtime rate = 8 hours time off
However, this time off needs to be taken within six months of the worked overtime and at a time that is agreed on by both the employer and employee.
|
Day |
Penalty Rate |
Minimum Hours |
|
Saturday |
125% |
No minimum |
|
Sunday |
200% |
4 hours |
|
Public Holidays |
250% |
4 hours |
All annual leave is in accordance with the National Employment Standards (NES).
The National Employment Standards also includes minimum entitlements to:
Under the Clerks Private Sector Award, a rate of 17.5% leave loading on top of their annual leave is applied when an employee takes paid time off.
Employees must be paid the higher of:
Example:
If a full-time employee applies for leave between Thursday this week and Wednesday next week, they would typically work 8 hours of shiftwork on a Saturday.
The employer must calculate 38 hours, including a 17.5% leave loading and compare with how much the employee will typically receive if they had been paid working across that period with the Saturday penalty rates.
Whichever of the two calculations is higher is how much the employee should be paid across that period of time, not for individual days.
All public holiday entitlements are per the National Employment Standards (NES) and the penalty rates outlined in the table above.
Employees that need to work on a public holiday may substitute an alternative day off provided that it’s been agreed in writing between the employer and employee.
An employee classified under the Clerks Private Sector Award must give their employer notice of termination as below:
|
Employee’s period of continuous service with the employer |
Period of notice |
|
Not more than 1 year |
1 week |
|
More than 1 year but not more than 3 years |
2 weeks |
|
More than 3 years but not more than 5 years |
3 weeks |
|
More than 5 years |
4 weeks |
The notice that an employee is required to give is the same required of an employer, except the employee does not have to provide additional notice based on their age.
If an employee who is at least 18 years old does not give the period of notice required, then the employer can deduct from the wage due to the employee. However, no more than one week’s wage should be deducted.
If the employer has agreed to a shorter period of notice, then no deduction can be made.
When an employer has given notice of termination to an employee in terms of the Clerks Private Sector Award, the employee must be allocated paid time up to one day, so that they can search for new employment elsewhere.
The allocated time should be taken when convenient to the employee and after consultation with the employer.
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