8 Conditions You Didn't Know Existed in the Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award

The Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award (MA000010) is quite a complex modern award as it covers a range of complicated areas.

The manufacturing award covers areas including:

• The repair, refurbishment, reconditioning, maintenance, installation, testing and fault finding of:
• Floor coverings
• Plant, equipment and buildings (including power supply)
• Mechanical and electrical engineering
• Building supplies
• Space tracking
• Farriery (other than in the racing industry)
• Bottle merchants
• Printing and processing of photographs from film
• Handling, sorting, packing, despatching, distribution and transport in connection with any of the foregoing manufacturing industries or parts of industries.
• Carriages, carts, wagons, trucks, motor cars, bodies, motorcycles, railway cars, tram cars, side-cars or other vehicles or parts or components or accessories in wood
• Maintenance employees in the engineering streams
• Technical workers
• Draughtspersons
• Production planners
• Trainee engineers
• Trainee scientists
• Engine drivers

There has been a push in the media recently, as well as a lot of attention from Fair Work Australia when it comes to payroll compliance. Therefore, it’s critical to understand the obligations employers have and the potential problems that could arise in meeting the Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award (MA000010) requirements.

While the Fair Work website does give everyone access to the award, it can be tricky to understand as it’s closer to a legislative document than an easy to understand guide.

You can read our Ultimate Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award (MA000010) Summary as well as downloading our eBook, which includes a bonus payroll processing checklist to ensure your business is compliant with all of the award requirements.

This article will cover some of the conditions that aren’t as well known from the Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award (MA000010) that could be missed.

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.

As an employer, you do have the right to refuse this request, as long as it’s on reasonable grounds such as:

• The needs of the workplace
• The type of work being done
• The qualifications and skills of your employee
• The employee’s personal circumstances

However, it’s up to your employees if they want to make a request, and if they have not made the request within 4 weeks of becoming a regular employee, they are considered to have declined.

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Apprentices are entitled to be reimbursed for costs for their education and training including textbooks and course fees. In addition, if block training is required, you’ll need to reimburse your apprentices for reasonable travel costs to and from training.

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Under the manufacturing award, they must have completed at least 50% of their studies before they get employed as a cadet and will spend on average 20% of their time whilst employed studying.

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If they don’t, they are entitled to boosted rates for the work that they complete throughout the specified time and until the break is taken.

The rates that you’ll need to pay can be seen in the table below:

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They are on duty at the time they are instructed to be on board and only finish when they gain contact with the shore again.

Additionally, the maximum time that they can be on duty is 12 hours. They must be paid 25% extra for time on duty while the vessel is at the wharf and 50% extra for time on duty while the vessel is in a harbour or at sea.

They are also well-fed with breakfast being provided if they are required to be on board before 7am and a light dinner if the trial continues beyond 6pm.

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The manufacturing award states that the allowance is added on an hourly basis, so make sure it is added onto your staff’s wages accordingly.

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If they don’t and resume working without having 10 hours off, your employee must be paid at 200% of the ordinary hourly rate until they are released from duty.

They are then entitled to not be at work until they have had a break of at least 10 hours, without loss of pay for ordinary hours.

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Including different rules surrounding breaks, allowances and ordinary hours of work, it’s important to read the award carefully when it comes to vehicle manufacturing.

In our experience, given the complexity of the award, many of our clients have opted to adopt Employment Hero Payroll's cloud software as a solution to automate compliance and to help with labour cost control.

Get in contact with us at Pay Cat if you’re interested in considering this option with the Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award (MA000010) or any other modern award.

If you’re not ready yet, download our Ultimate Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award (MA000010) Summary eBook and checklist which comprehensively covers everything you need to know, including:

• Types of employment
• Shiftwork coverage
• Hours of work
• Breaks
• Superannuation
• Allowances
• Overtime
• Annual Leave

Alternatively, if you're interested in making the move to Employment Hero Payroll, book in a free demo with us to find out how you can automate your Modern Award compliance with cloud payroll.