Childcare Award Wages: Info on Pay, Leave, Hours, Rosters, Breaks etc.

[Lorina]

Hey Everyone,

Last night I was looking through the Fairwork Australia website and happen to come across a webinar for the National Children’s Services Award which what the childcare wages are based on. They listed responses to the most FAQ’s asked. The Q&A’s listed are on pay, leave, hours, roster, breaks and casuals. It has definitely cleared up some doubts I was having with the Award and wages as well as provided me with some new info that I didn’t know. I think it’s very important that you are aware of this information as I believe it will help understand what is expected of you and your employer in regards to wages, pay, hours etc.

Pay

When can we pay time in lieu instead of overtime?
An employer and employee can agree to take time off in lieu of overtime payments. The time off is at the overtime rate. That is, if the employee works an hour of overtime worth time and a half then they can take an hour and a half off later with pay.

What if we have an Enterprise Agreement, or Australian Workplace Agreements?
If you have an Enterprise Agreement, or Australian Workplace Agreements, the base rates of pay in the agreement can’t be less than the base rates of pay for equivalent classifications under the modern award. The agreement can’t undercut any of the 10 National Employment Standards. Other than that, entitlements will come from the agreement until it is either terminated or replaced.

Where do I get a pay rate for an employee with a teaching degree?
Read clause 4 ‘Coverage’ in the Children’s Services Award and decide which modern award applies. They may be covered by another modern award.

What pay rates apply to a business that started after 1 January 2010?
If your business started on or after 1 January 2010 you still pay the transitional rates of pay from Schedule A. you can use PayCheck Plus to get these rates.

We provide a uniform shirt for our employees and a washing machine for them to wash them in. Do we still need to pay a laundry allowance?
The award doesn’t deal with this. It only says that where an employee is required to launder any special clothing they get a laundry allowance. See clause 15.2 for details.

Leave

Can an employee on maternity leave ask to come back to her position part-time? She was previously full-time.
Parents returning to work after taking parental leave have the right to request flexible working arrangements. This includes asking to come back to their job part-time. Your employee needs to request this in writing. Your responsibility is to respond in writing to the request within 21 days. You can only refuse the request on reasonable business grounds.

In a twelve month period how many 2-day blocks of compassionate leave can be taken?
Compassionate leave is available to employees when a member of the employee’s immediate family or household has a personal illness or injury that poses a serious threat to his/her life or dies. There is no cap on how often compassionate leave can be granted. An employee must provide reasonable evidence on request.

Is there a cap for the number of sick days that can be accrued during the time of employment?
Sick days (personal leave) don’t have a cap. They accrue at 10 days per year.

Ordinary hours of work

What are ordinary hours under the Children’s Services Award?
The ordinary hours for a full-time employee are an average of 38 hours per week. These can be averaged over 1 week, 2 week or 4 week cycles.
Ordinary hours are no more than 8 hours per day (excluding meal breaks) between Monday and Friday, 6am to 6.30pm. However, an employer and an employee may agree in an individual flexibility arrangement to work up to a maximum of 10 ordinary hours per day.

How are ordinary hours counted? Should I count lunch breaks?
Lunch breaks aren’t paid and don’t count as time worked, so they aren’t counted when calculating ordinary hours. However, paid rest pauses do count as ordinary hours.

Is an employee’s paid programming time included as part of their 38 ordinary hours per week?
Yes. Employees who are responsible for preparing, implementing and/or evaluating a developmental program get a minimum of 2 hours per week to plan, prepare, evaluate and program activities. These 2 hours count as part of their ordinary hours.

Can I roster an employee’s 38 weekly hours over 4 shifts a week of 9.5 hours each day, if they sign an individual flexible arrangement?
Yes. An employee can work up to a maximum of 10 hours in any one day where the employee and employer enter into an individual flexibility arrangement. For any individual flexibility arrangement, the employee must be better off overall.

Some children’s services centres have staff working 4 days a week, where each day is longer, and staff get the fifth day off. They don’t work over 38 hours a week. Do they get penalty rates?
It depends. Ordinary hours shouldn’t exceed 8 per day. An employee who works outside the ordinary hours is paid at overtime rates.
However, an employee may work up to a maximum of 10 hours in any one day where the employee and employer enter into an individual flexibility arrangement. If there’s a valid individual flexibility arrangement then only hours outside the agreed hours are paid at overtime rates.

Do staff meetings out of usual centre hours count for penalty rates/overtime if the employee has already done 8 hours that day?
All paid time worked is counted when calculating penalty rates and overtime. Paid staff meetings count towards an employee’s ordinary hours. Where this means they’ve worked over the ordinary hours, they should be paid overtime rates.
Please note: compulsory staff meetings count as time worked and must be paid.

Rosters

What notice do I give to change a roster for a casual or part-time employee?
For full-time and part-time employees changes should be agreed to by the employer and employee and put in writing. If you can’t agree, you can change their roster by giving 7 days notice.
The award does not have a period of notice to change a casual employee’s roster.

What is an employee entitled to if they have to stay back to cover for someone who has to leave early?
If the employee works outside ordinary hours they’re entitled to be paid overtime.
Ordinary hours are no more than 8 hours per day (excluding meal breaks) Monday and Friday between 6am and 6:30pm.

What should I do if my employees want to work long days so they can have a day off per week? Can I agree with them not to pay penalty rates?
No. You could make an individual flexibility arrangement with your employee, however the employee must be no worse off.
An employee may work up to a maximum of 10 hours in any one day where the employee and employer enter into an individual flexibility arrangement. If they have an individual flexibility arrangement then only hours outside the agreed hours are paid at overtime rates. However, the employee must still be better off overall so they would have to be paid enough to compensate for the penalty rates they would otherwise have received.

Can a part-time employee be sent home if we’ve reached our staff-child ratio for the day?
No. The award doesn’t have a clause that lets you send part-time employees home when a centre’s staff-child ratio has been reached. If a part-time employee is sent home before their scheduled finish time, they should be paid for the full scheduled shift, as if they had worked it.

How much notice do employees have to give if they want a day off?
Neither the award or the National Employment Standards set a notice period for employees to give when requesting leave.
Paid annual leave can be taken for a period agreed to between the employer and the employee. The employer must not unreasonably refuse a request by the employee to take paid annual leave.

Breaks

What breaks do I have to give if an employee who works less than 7 hours in a day?
An employee who works less than 7 hours a day is entitled to:
• 1 unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes, and no more than 1 hour
• 1 paid rest break of at least 10 minutes.

What is the total break time for a full-time employee in a day?
A full-time employee who works 7.6 hours a day (i.e. 38 hours divided by 5) is entitled to:
• 1 unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes, and no more than 1 hour
• 2 paid rest breaks of at least 10 minutes.

Is a full-time employee still full-time if they work less than 7 hours in a day?
It depends. The ordinary hours of work for full-time employees are 38 hours per week, averaged over 1, 2 or 4 weeks. An employee who works less than 7 hours on one day, but overall works an average of 38 hours per week, is still be a full-time employee.
However, an employee who works less than an average of 38 hours per week will be considered a part-time employee.

Casuals

Who can be a casual under the award? For example, we employ casuals using ISS grants.
Casuals are defined as an employee engaged for temporary and relief purposes. If the nature of an ISS grant means that the job is temporary then casual employment will fit with this award.

I believe the casual loading is 24% and will not change to 25% until next year. Is that right?
If the casual loading in your pre-modern award was less than 25% then it will be phasing up. Phasing ends next year and every casual will then get the full casual loading of 25%.

About the audit

Can we use the pay slips from Quickbooks or other computer software?
Yes, as long as they comply with the Regulation 3.46 of the Fair Work Regulations 2009 . Pay slips must be issued to employees within one working day of being paid wages or salary.

Our employees complete a sign-in sheet when they arrive for work and some arrive early. They don’t start their rostered hours until later. Will you only be auditing their rostered hours?
Time and wage records will be requested from employers selected for audit. A timesheet should be signed on commencement and cessation of the work shift. If the employee signs a timesheet early (prior to the commencement of the rostered shift) the employer will need to demonstrate the employee was not working during this time. Employees are to be paid for all hours worked.

If you find any errors in our 2-week sample of payroll records, what will happen?
A Fair Work Inspector will assess all records provided to identify compliance. If errors are identified, they will contact you directly to discuss the issues identified and discuss with you how you can fix them.
If the contravention is of a monetary nature, the Inspector will request the employer to conduct a self-audit for a period of up to 12 months and work with the employer to address all issues. Education and assistance will be provided to the employer to help rectify any contraventions identified.

What period will you be auditing? Will it be the same for all the employers you audit? Does the Fair Work Ombudsman decide what period will be audited or should the service decide which 2 weeks of records to submit to you?
We will select a 2-week audit period, which will be after the date of the webinar. The audit date will be the same for all businesses selected for audit.

Does the audit affect any children’s services covered by any of the educational services awards?
These awards are outside the scope of the campaign. Employees covered under these awards will not be assessed during the audit.

Ref: http://www.fairwork.gov.au/resources/we ... -faqs.aspx

I really hope this clears up some of the confusion any of you are having in regards to the questions asked above,

,
L.A

[Miss T]

Hi L.A
In regards to the point about staff being sent home due to ratio to staff are being met. How about staff rostered on 'til 6pm but kids have left by 540pm, can employers choose not to pay you upto 6pm?

Thanks,
Miss T

[Lorina]

Hi L.A
In regards to the point about staff being sent home due to ratio to staff are being met. How about staff rostered on 'til 6pm but kids have left by 540pm, can employers choose not to pay you upto 6pm?

Thanks,
Miss T

Hey Miss T,

From what I understand even if all children have left by 5:40pm and your centre is open till 6pm you need to stay until 6pm. Legally your centre's operation hours are until 6pm so you need to stay until 6pm or up until 5 to 6 least. However if you do decide to leave early then employers should only pay for the hours you have worked. So if you are working only until 5:30pm for example and then leave, you should only be paid until 5:30pm. I know that when all children have left the only thing you would want to do is go home but in my opinion you should stay until the centre closes. Just in case a parent etc needs to contact you etc. You could use the extra time to work on other stuff such as documentation etc.

Hope this helps,

,
L.A

[Miss T]

The funny thing is, i want to stay til 6 and get my stuff done and also get paid to what i am rostered on for. Thing is you need 2 people together to close. Everyone wants to leave asap. we have so much we need to catch up on our documentation and i'm continually doing it at home. I'm worried we will fail accreditation.

I find this part of my job frustrating

[Lorina]

Yeah, I understand what you mean...

At one of my previous centres to stop staff from leaving early my director told us that those doing the closing shift had to ring her every evening using the work phone at 5:55pm the earliest. I think this was a great idea because it forced staff to stay until closing time or near to it. We never had a problem since this idea had been implemented...

,
L.A

[tinkataylor]

So what happens when you have to stay back after closing time because a child isn't picked up?

Are we paid overtime?

[Lorina]

So what happens when you have to stay back after closing time because a child isn't picked up?

Are we paid overtime?

Yes, you should be paid overtime or given time in lieu depending on what your centre offers. Just because the parent pays a late fee it doesn't cover you having to stay late...

This may help:

Ordinary Hours Of Work

,
L.A

[nicole02]

Hi there,

For the above question....

"Do staff meetings out of usual centre hours count for penalty rates/overtime if the employee has already done 8 hours that day?"

What do you mean by this? I cant make sense of it... "All paid time worked is counted..."
Yes, so I am paid for the hours I work...(is this what you mean?) but is a compulsory meeting always meant to be paid?

For example I just worked and 8 hour shift, I may not have a chance to go home, I may... I come back to attend the meeting. Am I supposed to be paid? Am I supposed to be paid a regular hour of work? Or am I supposed to be paid overtime for that meeting?
I am still really confused which is correct. My last meeting was only paid regular hours, and I was only paid for 1 hour of that meeting not the 2 hours it really took.

I read the Fairwork Award and it said we have up to 2 hours of after hours work to attend things like parent teacher meetings etc a month UNPAID(!!!???). That can't be right, right? Like if I am working, I am getting paid. Thats the exchange.
So, if this is true, if my company only holds a meeting every fortnight, and it runs for 2 hours each time... are they within their rights to only pay me 2 hours of the 4, to make up the 2 hours I apparently should donate each month?

Any advice would be so helpful, thank you...

[Lorina]

Hi Nicole,

In regards to your questions:

"What do you mean by this? I cant make sense of it... "All paid time worked is counted..."
Yes, so I am paid for the hours I work...(is this what you mean?) but is a compulsory meeting always meant to be paid?"

Basically if a staff meeting is conducted outside of your normal working hours then you need to be paid either overtime or time in lieu.

So since you worked your 8 hours for the day and you came back for the meeting which is beyond your typical daily working hours...you should be paid overtime.

For your reference: When Overtime Applies

I read the Fairwork Award and it said we have up to 2 hours of after-hours work to attend things like parent-teacher meetings etc a month UNPAID(!!!???). That can't be right, right? Like if I am working, I am getting paid. Thats the exchange.
So, if this is true, if my company only holds a meeting every fortnight, and it runs for 2 hours each time... are they within their rights to only pay me 2 hours of the 4, to make up the 2 hours I apparently should donate each month?

I'm quite familiar with the Children's Service Award however I have never read that information before. Can you please tell me where you read that?

Thanks!

,
Lorina

[GemmaRa]

Re: Breaks (Unable to take them)

What happens if an educator is absent and taking a break would mean breaking the ratio requirements?
Of course the educator stays supervising but doesnt take a break that day. This has occurred up to 3 weeks in a row with staff not recieving entitled breaks due to one staff absence.
Should days where you do not get a break entitle you to be paid extra for the break?

We also have two staff members sometimes working in the office all day. The director and an ECT and yet either come out on the floor to cover the breaks for us.

So.... Wanting to know what is our entitlement for
the days we do not recieve a break?
Thanks

[Lorina]

Re: Breaks (Unable to take them)

What happens if an educator is absent and taking a break would mean breaking the ratio requirements?
Of course the educator stays supervising but doesnt take a break that day. This has occurred up to 3 weeks in a row with staff not recieving entitled breaks due to one staff absence.
Should days where you do not get a break entitle you to be paid extra for the break?

We also have two staff members sometimes working in the office all day. The director and an ECT and yet either come out on the floor to cover the breaks for us.

So.... Wanting to know what is our entitlement for
the days we do not recieve a break?
Thanks

You are entitled by law to take a break. According to Fair Work Australia "if an employee has their meal break interrupted by their employer they have to be paid the relevant overtime pay for the time they work until an uninterrupted meal break is taken. The minimum overtime payment is 15 minutes. So basically you are supposed to receive overtime pay if you do not get a break or interrupted.

This is a serious issue because breaks enable you to take a break away from work and relax. This needs to be addressed by your employer.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

,
Lorina

[MPlace]

Hi there sorry for jumping on end of this, not sure how to post my own. I have a question regarding pay. I was employed as a cert 3 however I am studying my diploma and finish in a few months. The manager told me today that I will not be paid as a diploma when I finish but as a cert 3 as that is the role they employed me under and there are no diploma roles ,available. Is this legal? Do I have to a room leader to be payed as a diploma ? Or take on extra tasks?

[Lorina]

Hi!

Have I answered your question via email or FB?

,
Lorina

[Kitkat73]

I have a question about rosters I currently work in an environment where only 4 out of the 21 staff do an early or late shift the others chose to do 9-3 or only work 2 or 3 days a week does this happen at other centres? How should it work? The staff that are doing all the early and latest are getting burnt out i have suggested 2 people aren't on the same shift in the same room but how can this issue be fixed I don't think it can because staff arent willing to work as a team thoughts please

[Lorina]

In some centres this is done on a rotating basis, so it's fair for all staff. Also, 2 staff from 2 different rooms should be on the same shift not 2 staff from the same room because of supporting children from the room, having consistent educators that children are familiar with etc.

If staff are getting burnt out, then it's definitely not fair and Rosters need to be made fair for all. I suggest having a meeting with staff and work out a solution that is feasible for all. Staff should be consulted and should he discussed before making any changes.

Hope this helps!

,
Lorina

[Vaughan1234!]

Hi Team,
Can a Kinder force you to take Annual Leave if you have no Personal Leave entitlements?

[Lorina]

From what I understand, you have the option of taking Leave Without Pay if you don't want to take your Annual Leave.

,
Lorina

[karissa89]

Hi,
I have been a room leader for over 12 months (18months) with a certificate 3 and I enquired my pay to which they are now paying me 4A.2 as I was getting 4A.1 and will be back paying from the 12 month mark. However I have now obtained my Diploma apparently my pay will go to 4.1 which is on commencement even know I have been there 18 months. Just wondering if anyone can please help me. Am I ment to be on a 4.1 or 4.2? Thank you for your help.

[Lorina]

Hi Karissa,

Since you have only received your Diploma your pay level will go to Level 4.1 even though you were on Level 4A.2. Your pay rate will be higher anyway since you are a Diploma Qualified now even though you are on level 4.1. your hourly wage is higher compared to previously.

On Level 4A.2 your hourly wage is $26.79/
On Level 4.1 your hourly wage increases to $29.16/.

Hope this helps!

,
Lorina

[Lesley Wallis]

Hi Lorina,

I have a Diploma in Early Childhood Education. I am being paid $27.88. Would this be form a Diploma qualified educator. I got my diploma at the beginning of 2022.

Thank you and kind regards

Lesley A Wallis