At the end of January 2022, the Fair Work Commission handed a determination after their 4 yearly reviews of modern awards for the Social, Community, Home Care, and Disability Services Industry (SCHADS) Award 2010. The SCHADS Award can be a complex award to interpret and covers the provision of including but not limited to NDIS, disability services, crisis assistance and supported housing, social and community services, home care, and family daycare services.
The above award was varied, and the following key changes are effective from 1 July 2022:
Guaranteed Hours
If a part-time employee has consistently worked more than their contracted hours for at least 12 months, the employee can request in writing for the employer to vary their agreement to reflect the increase in contracted hours.
Minimum Hours
The revised engagement hours for part-time and casual employees, for each shift or period of work in a broken shift will be as follows:
(a) social and community services employees (except when undertaking disability services work)—3 hours;
(b) all other employees—2 hours.
In order to help employers and employees prepare for these amendments, a transitional arrangement was put in place from 1 February 2022 and is valid till 1 October 2022. The transitional period should be utilized to start consultation discussions with employees, to agree on variations of current hours of work.
Broken Shifts
A broken shift is defined as a shift with one or more breaks, that aren’t meal breaks within a 12-hour period. An example would be an employee rostered to work from 8 am to 10 am and then again between 11 am to 2 pm, that is a broken shift with 1 unpaid break.
The broken shift provision has also been altered and now an employee required to work a broken shift with 1 unpaid break will be paid an allowance of 1.7% ($17.53) of the standard rate and an employee required to work a broken shift with 2 unpaid breaks will be paid an allowance of 2.25% ($23.20) of the standard rate, per broken shift.
On-Call Allowance
In simple terms, on-call is when an employee is required to be available to be recalled to duty when requested. Employees will now be paid an on-call allowance of 2% ($20.63) of the standard rate for weekdays or 3.96% ($40.84) of the standard rate for any public holiday or part thereof.
Client Cancellation
The client cancellation clause has also been revised and includes client cancellation for scheduled home care or disability service within 7 days of when the service is to be provided by either a rostered full-time or part-time employee. The new provisions include the employer directing the employee to perform other work during the rostered hours, providing the make-up time, or paying the employee for the canceled rostered shift.
The above are not all the changes to the SCHADS Award and below are some others worth noting:
• Overtime rates for full-time, part-time, and casual employees
• Laundering, repair, and replacement of clothing other than uniforms
• Remote work including minimum hours and rates of pay
How can we help you?
If you are unclear on any of these changes or have questions, contact HR Expertise on 1300 086 676 or via email at info@hrexpertise.com.au. We provide assistance with compliance with the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry (SCHADS) Award 2010. Our HR Consulting in Melbourne and across Australia can help.
Cedric has 13+ years of demonstrated experience as a senior HR generalist with a broad commercial and project-driven background within leading global organisations across a range of industries. He is qualified with an MBA from the Australian Institute of Business (AIB), an Advanced Diploma of Management specialising in Human Resources and an HR Consulting – Business Partnering course from the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI).