MODERN AWARDS – 4 yearly review – s.156 Fair Work Act 2009 – Full Bench – on 23 February 2017 the Commission issued a decision dealing with the weekend and public holiday penalty rates, and some related matters, in a number of awards in the Hospitality and Retail sectors (the Penalty Rates decision) [[2017] FWCFB 1001] – on 5 June 2017 the Commission issued the Penalty Rates – Transitional Arrangements decision [[2017] FWCFB 3001] which dealt with the implementation of the Penalty Rates decision including the determination of various transitional arrangements – draft variation determinations in respect of the Sunday penalty rate provisions in the Fast Food, Hospitality, Restaurant, Retail and Pharmacy Awards were published for comment on 7 June 2017 – submissions were received from the Australian Retailers Association, National Retail Association and Master Grocers Australia (the Retail Associations), Australian Industry Group (Ai Group), the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) and an organisation called WorkSight P/L – the expressions used in the draft determinations were consistent with the approach adopted by the Commission in the course of reviewing modern awards as part of the 4 yearly review (the Review) – the review of each modern award involves the publication of an exposure draft which reformats the award to make it simpler and easier to understand and incorporates consistent expressions – given the different stages of completion of the plain language re-drafting processes we have decided that the current form of the penalty rates provisions will be retained for the purpose of finalising these determinations – however, the drafting of these clauses will be revisited during the course of the Plain Language Project – one further matter in contention, is the application of the Penalty Rates decision to trainees employed under the terms of the Fast Food Award – employers are obliged to classify all employees covered by the award (including trainees) as either a level 1, level 2 or level 3 Fast Food Employee – Full Bench did not propose to vary the draft determination to make express reference to trainees – any interested party wishing to pursue this issue should file an application to vary the Fast Food Award so that the matter may be fully considered – there is a final matter, in relation to the Pharmacy Award – Sunday penalty rates under the Pharmacy Award are to be reduced for ordinary hours worked between 7.00 am and 9.00 pm on a Sunday – the Penalty Rates decision stated that penalty rates for work before 7.00 am and after 9.00 pm on a Sunday will be the subject of further proceedings and accordingly the existing rates remain in force for hours worked during those hours – final determinations to come into operation on 1 July 2017. 4 yearly review of modern awards – Penalty Rates – Transitional Arrangements
…
