Employment Law – Holiday Leave Loading
May 2012
At a national symposium I attended last week, an interesting issue arose as a consequence of something mentioned by the Federal Minister for Tourism, the Honourable Martin Ferguson MP.
That was a question involving holiday leave loading. The bottom line is that award employees in general are entitled under their award to 17.5% loading. There are some exceptions where the award does not provide for such a loading but in general most awards do.
I advised people who attended the master class that I was presenting at that symposium that frequently these sorts of payments are incorporated in an overall “over award” contractual arrangement for such award employees, but that it was important for the fact or otherwise of such an arrangement to be noted in the individual contracts otherwise there is a risk of people seeking to claim it effectively twice.
Generally speaking, there are a number of provisions that need to be considered closely in your individual employment contracts (or your contractor agreements if contractor agreements are relevant) and the complexity of our labour laws needs to be recognised. Clearly, the provisions of any workplace or other registered agreements can override this.
In later bulletins I will cover some other interesting questions on employment.
John Graves
Principal
Bradfield & Scott Lawyers
Level 1, 175 Macquarie Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Telephone: 9233 7299
Email: jgraves@bradscott.com.au
That was a question involving holiday leave loading. The bottom line is that award employees in general are entitled under their award to 17.5% loading. There are some exceptions where the award does not provide for such a loading but in general most awards do.
I advised people who attended the master class that I was presenting at that symposium that frequently these sorts of payments are incorporated in an overall “over award” contractual arrangement for such award employees, but that it was important for the fact or otherwise of such an arrangement to be noted in the individual contracts otherwise there is a risk of people seeking to claim it effectively twice.
Generally speaking, there are a number of provisions that need to be considered closely in your individual employment contracts (or your contractor agreements if contractor agreements are relevant) and the complexity of our labour laws needs to be recognised. Clearly, the provisions of any workplace or other registered agreements can override this.
In later bulletins I will cover some other interesting questions on employment.
John Graves
Principal
Bradfield & Scott Lawyers
Level 1, 175 Macquarie Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Telephone: 9233 7299
Email: jgraves@bradscott.com.au
