Funeral Industry Award 2020 [MA000105]

The article provides guidelines about when to use the different work types and tags included as part of the pre-built Funeral Industry Award 2020 [MA000105] package. For further information about this industry award, refer to Funeral Industry Award.

Key updates

  Select the current financial year tab to see award updates for the 2022/23 financial year, while all previous updates before this time you can find in the historical financial years tab.

Current financial year

August 2023

1st

From 1 August, all employees are entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave each year. The (Unpaid) Family and Domestic Violence Leave configuration settings under awards have been updated - the leave category is disabled from award leave allowance templates, and the work type is not enabled automatically for all employees. Please ensure that employees no longer use the unpaid leave category or work type.

July 2023

1st

We have updated the award to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s National Minimum Wage increase detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2022-23 decision and also includes updates to expense-related allowances. You can find information on the Determinations here and here. 

These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after the 1st July 2023. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run before the first full pay period beginning on or after the 1st July 2023.

Historical financial years

January 2023

31st

We have updated the award to reflect changes made as part of the Fair Work Decision regarding Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave. You can find further information on what changes we applied to the platform and what you should be aware of within this article. We have created the following new categories:

• New Leave Category: Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave.
• New Pay Category: Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave.
• New Work Type: Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave taken.

We have updated the Leave Allowance Templates to disable the existing unpaid Family and Domestic Violence and we have enabled the new Paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave. We also updated any impacted rule conditions.

As part of Fair Work's ruling, an employee must be paid their full pay rate; this includes their base rate plus any incentive-based payments and bonuses, loadings, monetary allowances, overtime or penalty rates, and any other separately identifiable amount.

July 2022

We have updated the Award to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s National Minimum Wage increase detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2021-22 decision and also includes updates to expense-related allowances. You can find information on the Determinations here and here.

These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after the 1st July 2022. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run before the first full pay period beginning on or after the 1st July 2022. We have disabled Unpaid Pandemic Leave as this entitlement has now expired within this award. Additional information can be found on the Fairwork website.

January 2022

We have updated the Unpaid Pandemic Leave pay category and it now counts as service for entitlements under awards and the National Employment Standards. If any staff have used this category previously, please adjust their Annual, Personal, and Long Service Leave balances for any period of unpaid pandemic leave previously taken.

November 2021

We have updated the award in line with the Australian Tax Office (ATO) requirements for Singel Touch Payroll (STP) Phase Two reporting. We now report gross earnings by disaggregating them into distinguishable categories. We have also updated the Pay Category payment classifications in line with the ATO specification categories

We have updated the Permanent and Casual rule sets to make sure that the minimum shift engagement for Removals, Saturdays and Sundays is correct for Casual and Part Time employees per clause 19.4(d) and 21.1(d).

August 2021

We have updated the award name to Funeral Industry Award 2020 to reflect changes made as part of the Fair Work Decision four-year review of modern awards.

July 2021

We have updated the award to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s National Minimum Wage increase of 2.5% detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2020-21 decision and also includes updates to expense-related allowances. You can find information on the Determinations here and here.

These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after the 1st July 2021. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run, before the first full pay period beginning on or after the 1st July 2021.

We have also made updates to the Leave Category Family & Domestic Violence (FDV) Leave, so that the balance displays in days instead of hours in line with the National Employment Standards. Once you install the update, all employee’s FDV leave balances will display in days, not hours, and this means that an employee’s balance may now show as 38 days.

We made this update to make sure that any new installs of this award conducted since the 1st July now capture the Super Guarannte (SG) increase from 9.5% to 10% for all pay categories. If you have installed the award between the 1st July 2021 to the 8th July 2021 for the first time, please make sure you select the No option to the Preserve Custom Pay Categories question. If you were using this award before the 1st July 2021, then you do not need to select the No option. 

February 2021

We have varied the award as part of the Fair Work Commission's four-year review of modern awards. The determination comes into operation on the 13th November 2020. Under s.165(3) of the Fair Work Act 2009, the determination does not take effect in relation to a particular employee until the start of the employee's first full pay period that starts on or after the 13th November 2020.

We have updated the award pay conditions rule sets for Permanent Funeral Industry and Casual Funeral Industry in line with Clause 20 - Shiftworkers. We have created new rules for non-continuous shiftworkers, including a span of hours, maximum daily hours, and periods of overtime. We have also created a new pay category for non-continuing shiftwork overtime.

August 2020

We have updated the award to reflect the High Court's decision on the accrual of personal/carer's leave which overturns the decision made by the Full Federal Court of Australia. With personal/carer's leave calculated on working days, not hours. You can find information on the Decision here.

As such, we have removed the Personal/Carer's (10 days) Leave Allowance Templates and updated associated Employment Agreements. Please note, the update will not remove any of the above from a business that already installed the award before the 25th August 2020. However, any new award installs from the 25th August 2020 will not display personal/carer's (10 days) leave details.

We have updated the Permanent Funeral Industry and Casual Funeral Industry pay conditions rule sets in line with clause 23.3(b); working through a meal break. You should choose the work type No Meal Break for the duration of the meal break only, so the employee receives the penalty for the time worked during the meal break only.

July 2020

We have updated the award, as part of Group One Awards, to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s National Minimum Wage increase of 1.75% detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2019-20 decision. It also includes updates to expense-related allowances. You can find information on the Determinations here and here. These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after 1st July 2020. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run before the first full pay period beginning on or after the 1st July 2020.

Coverage

This industry award covers employers throughout Australia in the funeral industry and their employees in the classifications listed in Schedule B—Classification Structure and Definitions to the exclusion of any other modern award. To read further details and any exclusions, please see clause four of the award.

Work Types

Work types are a description of the kind of shift you are working, and are selected when you record a timesheet. The following is a list of work types employees can select on their timesheet, and the meaning of each item.

Annual Leave Taken

Choose this work type when annual leave is taken.

Compassionate Leave Taken

Choose this work type when compassionate leave is taken.

Exhumation

Choose this work type when an employee is required to assist in an exhumation. One unit per body exhumed.

Family and Domestic Violence Leave Taken

Choose this work type when family and domestic violence leave is taken.

Leave Without Pay Taken

Choose this work type when unpaid leave is taken.

Long Service Leave Taken

Choose this work type when long service leave is taken.

Meal Allowance (Overtime)

Choose this work type when an employee is required to work more than two hours of overtime after the normal ceasing time without being notified on the previous day or earlier and is not receiving a meal. One unit per meal.

Meal Allowance (Travelling)

Choose this work type when an employee is required for a funeral or removal, travelling in excess of 80 kilometres each way, who is unable to take their midday meal break at the place normally provided.

No Meal Break

Choose this work type when an employee is required to work during their normal midday unpaid meal break and is to be compensated with a penalty rate.

On Stand-By (Mon-Fri)

Choose this work type when an employee is required to stand-by between normal finishing and starting time Monday to Friday.

On Stand-By (Weekend/Public Holiday)

Choose this work type when an employee is required to stand-by on a Saturday, Sunday, or any public holiday.

Paid Community Service Leave Taken

Choose this work type when community service leave is taken.

Personal/Carer's Leave (10 days) Taken

Choose this work type when personal or carer's leave is taken and the business accrues the leave in days.

Personal/Carer's Leave Taken

Choose this work type when personal or carer's leave is taken and the business accrues the leave in hours.

Public Holiday Not Worked

Choose this work type when an employee is not required to work on a gazetted public holiday but otherwise would have worked on this day.

TIL of OT

Choose this work type when the employee elects to accrue time in lieu rather than an overtime payment.

Time in Lieu Taken

Choose this work type when time in lieu is taken.

Unpaid Pandemic Leave Taken

Choose this work type when unpaid pandemic leave is taken.

Use Own Vehicle (km)

Choose this work type where an employer requests an employee to use their own motor vehicle to perform work duties. The kilometres travelled should be entered into the units field, i.e. one unit is equivalent to one kilometre.

Shift Conditions

Shift Conditions are further details you can add to a shift where more than one condition applies to your shift. You can select shift conditions when you edit a timesheet record, or when clocking on using the ClockMeIn Time and Attendance or WorkZone apps. The following is a list of Shift Conditions employees can select on their timesheet, and the meaning of each item.

Leading Hand (3-10 employees)

Select this shift condition when an employee is in charge of 3-10 people for this shift.

Leading Hand (11-19 employees)

Select this shift condition when an employee is in charge of 11-19 people for this shift.

Make-Up Time S

elect this shift condition when an employee elects with the consent of the employer to work make-up time, where the employee takes time off during ordinary hours and works those hours at a later time, during the spread of ordinary hours.

Recalled To Work

Select this shift condition when an employee is recalled to work before 7.00 am or after 7.00 pm for other than arranged overtime.

Removals

Select this shift condition when an employee is called to undertake removals - transfer of deceased human remains from the place of death, a cemetery, a hospital, a crematorium, or a city mortuary to the mortuary of a funeral director and includes a transfer requested by police.

Saturday Funeral

Select this shift condition when an employee is actually engaged in the carrying out of a funeral on a Saturday.

Work on an RDO

Select this shift condition when an employee is required to work on their rostered day off.

Tags

Employee Tags are specific conditions typically related to the employees agreement. These are often conditions negotiated and agreed between the employer and the employee, or unique characteristics of the employees role. Payment of these provisions is usually of a recurring and ongoing nature.

Leading Hand Allowance - in Charge of 3-10 Employees

Assign this tag when an employee is in charge of between three and ten employees.

Leading Hand Allowance - in Charge of 11-19 Employees Assign this tag when an employee is in charge of between 11 and 19 employees.

Shiftworker

Assign this tag when an employee is employed as a shiftworker under clause 22.

TIL of OT

Assign this tag when an employee elects to receive time off instead of payment for overtime.

Tool Allowance

Assign this tag when an employee is engaged in coffin manufacturing and is to use their own tools and/or equipment.