The Fair Work Commission (FWC) made its final determinations relating to the Aged Care Work Value case last week, laying down important decisions about aged care workers' conditions, including pay rates and job classifications, with decisions relating to Registered and Enrolled Nurses remain pending.
The changes have significant consequences for aged care providers.
"We get this wrong, we run the risk of potentially underpaying someone," said Stephen Roebuck, Associate Director of Advice and Consultancy with Human Resources and employment relations adviser, Peninsula Australia, which has 25,000 clients in Australia.
The changes may also leave some employees perceiving the outcomes as "unfair", which can be "a challenge for employers" to manage, Stephen told The SOURCE.
Associate Director of Advice and Consultancy
Peninsula AU
The main changes to come out of the FWC's latest decision are changes around classifications, and what each level within an Award applies to each employee.
To ensure aged care employers comply with the changes, Stephen recommends they take five steps.
- Work out which Award applies to their operation, whether it be the Aged Care Award 2010, the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010 (SCHADS) or the Nurses Award 2020.
- The FWC's latest decision determines which classification applies to each employee.
"Anyone in the aged care sector needs to go through this classification exercise from scratch because the actual wording in the classifications is going to be different to what it was prior to 1 January, so that's the big change," Stephen said.
Assistants in Nursing (AINs) will no longer be classified under the Nurses Award, so any AINs on the Nurses Award will need to be moved over to the Aged Care Award.
"If you have employees that will transition from being covered by the Nurses Award to the Aged Care award, those employees will still retain the entitlement to five weeks of annual leave," Stephen noted.
Consult with the workforce on the changes before 1 January, when the changes take effect, and set out a schedule for the changes.
The changes "can be misunderstood quite easily", so try to break them down for staff and answer any questions they have.
- If an aged care organisations has an Enterprise Agreement (EA) in place, the FWC stipulates you cannot pay an employee on an EA less than the base rates from the applicable Award.
"Make sure that even if you've got an EA that your base rates remain above the new Award rates," Stephen said.
- Consider any further changes that might arise from future FWC decisions related to the to the Work Value Case - Nurses and Midwives, which was being heard this week and a decision imminent.
