Hi, Hate to be the bearer of bad news but I have to agree with arowe. There are many SME owners out there who are cursing Kevin Rudd for the lack of flexibility these changes have made. Your employees are very likely to be covered by the Clerks Modern Award 2010. There is a flexibility clause in every modern award that allows employers to offset over award payments against certain clauses such as penalty rates, allowances, leave loading etc. However, you really need to make an Individual Flexibility Agreement (IFA) with your staff to be truly complying with this. Their current contracts will not be valid in terms of the 40 hours per week term. However you are able to say they are a salaried employee who is paid well above the award and they are paid to do a particular job which means working 38 hours plus reasonable additional overtime. If you were rostering them for more than 38 hours each week then the extra hours would be considered overtime. Therefore you need to write up an IFA to offset any overtime and show that they are better off under this agreement than under the basic award.
I hope this isn't too confusing. It all seems like a lot of paperwork for small employers but worth getting it clear up front.
Taimi
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