![Live Performance Award Guide [MA000081]](https://www.workstem.com/au/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2024/01/Untitled-design-14-min-1.png)
This article provides guidelines on the live performance award package. For more information on this award, please refer to the Live Performance Award.
What is the Live Performance Award?
The Live Performance Award is a set of regulations and guidelines that govern the employment conditions and entitlements of employees in the live performance industry in Australia.
It includes definitions of various terms used in the award, such as “employee,” “employer,” “performer,” “musician,” and more. The award covers aspects such as minimum rates of pay, working hours, engagement types, allowances, and specific provisions for different roles within the industry, such as dancers, musicians, and crew members. It also addresses matters related to recordings, performances, accommodation, and other relevant aspects of the live performance sector.
Who is covered by the Live Performance Award?
Coverage
The live performance industry means employers and employees who work in (or connected to) the:
- producing (pre and post production), staging, lighting, audio and audio/visual, presenting, performing, administrating, programming, workshopping, set and prop manufacturing, or
- undertaking live theatre, performance art, operatic, orchestral, dance, erotic, variety, revue, comedy, multi-media, choral, or musical performances, productions, presentations, rehearsals, or concerts.
Examples of employees covered by the Live Performance Award include:
- crowd controllers
- car parking attendants
- crewing employees
- mail room attendants
- program sellers
- stage door attendants
- stage hands
- theatre attendants/ushers
- ticket sellers
- turnstile attendants
- tour guides
- receptionists
- administration and information services
- account, booking and dispatch clerks
- team leaders – call centres
- customer service representatives
- marketing or publicity assistants
- qualified or unqualified sound and lighting technicians
- prop and wig makers
- machinists and tailors
- technicians
- performers involved in acting, singing, dancing, skating, aquatic performing, understudying and any other type of performing
- musicians
- conductors
- vocalists
- disc jockeys
- karaoke hosts
- opera principals
- stage managers.
The Live Performance Award includes labour hire businesses and their employees in the live performance industry.
The following employees and employers are not covered by the Live Performance Award:
- models who are photographed and/or models for hairdressers for advertising purposes
- employers and their employees who work in movie theatres.
How are the hours of work arranged in the Live Performance Award ?
Ordinary hours of work
- Weekly hours: 38 hours per week, except for the week before opening night or the first public performance, which can be up to 48 hours.
- Daily hours: Up to 8 hours per day.
- Workdays: No more than 6 days per week, between 9:00 am and 11:15 pm.
- Minimum credited time: 2.5 hours for full-length performances or dress rehearsals, 1 hour for performances up to one hour.
- Rehearsals or extra sessions: Minimum credited time of 2 hours.
- Employer’s right to lay off employees: Up to 3 weeks within 26 weeks, only for production transfers or by mutual agreement.
- Payments in broken weeks or transfers: Rehearsal days at 16.7% salary, performances at 12.5% salary; ordinary performance salary for mixed performing/non-performing days in transfers without lay-off time.
Breaks
|
Employee Type |
Meal Break Entitlement |
|
Weekly employees |
|
|
Casual employees |
|
|
All employees |
|
How are wages and allowances calculated in the Live Performance Award?
Minimum rates
An employer must pay employees the following minimum rates for ordinary hours worked by the employee:
|
Live Performance employee |
Category | Minimum weekly rate (full-time employee) |
Minimum hourly rate |
|
Level 1 |
Production and Support Staff Level 1 (Induction/Training) | 859.30$ | 22.61$ |
| Level 2 | Production and Support Staff Level 2 | 930.70$ |
24.49$ |
|
Level 3 |
Production and Support Staff Level 3 | 976.20$ | 25.69$ |
|
Level 4 |
Production and Support Staff Level 4 |
995.00$ | 26.18$ |
| Level 5 | Production and Support Staff Level 5 | 1026.10$ |
27.00$ |
| Level 6 | Production and Support Staff Level 6 | 1057.40$ |
27.83$ |
|
Level 7 |
Company Dancer Level 1; |
1085.60$ | |
| Level 8 | Company Dancer Level 2; Production and Support Staff Level 7 |
1125.20$ |
29.611$ |
|
Level 9 |
Musician; |
1140.70$ | |
| Level 10 | Company Dancer Level 3; Production and Support Staff Level 8 |
1164.00$ |
30.631$ |
|
Level 11 |
Company Dancer Level 4; Musician required to accompany artists; Opera Principal |
1200.80$ | |
|
Level 12 |
Company Dancer Level 5 | 1241.10$ | |
|
Level 13 |
Company Dancer Level 6; Technical Manager |
1286.20$ |
|
| Level 14 | Company Dancer Level 7; Principal Musician; Vocalist |
1339.60$$ |
|
| Level 15 | Conductor-Leader |
1453.70 |
*For more information about minimum rates, please refer to the complete version of Fair Work.
Overtime and penalty rates
| Overtime |
Penalty Rates (% of minimum hourly rate ) |
|
Weekly Employees |
|
| Rostered Daily Hours (First 2 hours) | 150% |
|
Rostered Daily Hours(After 2 hours) |
200% |
| Rostered Day Off (First 4 hours) |
150% |
|
Rostered Day Off(After 4 hours) |
200% |
| Weekly Total Hours Exceeded |
150% |
|
Part-time Employees Exceeding 38 hours (First 2 hours) |
150% |
|
Part-time Employees Exceeding 38 hours(After 2 hours) |
200% |
|
Casual Employees |
|
|
Ordinary Hours Exceeded (First 2 hours) |
175% |
|
Ordinary Hours Exceeded (After 2 hours) |
225% |
|
Weekly Hours Exceeded (First 4 hours) |
175% |
| Weekly Hours
Exceeded (After 4 hours) |
225% |
|
Night Shift |
|
| Full-time and Part-time Employees work between 12 midnight and 7 am | 200% |
| Casual Employees Work between 12 midnight and 7 am |
225% |
|
Sundays |
|
|
Full-time and Part-time employees work on Sundays(Minimum payment for 4 hours) |
200% |
| Casual Employees work on Sundays(Minimum payment for 4 hours) |
225% |
Allowance
|
Allowance |
Rate |
|
Expense-related allowances |
|
|
Reimbursement of expenses |
Based on tax invoice and receipt |
| Use of vehicle allowance |
$0.95 per kilometre |
| Late night transport |
Proper transport provided by the employer |
|
Laundry allowance |
|
|
Weekly and full-time employees |
$4.24 per week for blouses and shirts, $11.02 per week for other garments |
| Other than weekly and full-time employees |
$3.40 per day, up to a maximum of $15.35 per week |
|
Expense-related travel allowances |
|
|
Travel |
Actual cost of economy class fare or equivalent |
| Travel to and from airports |
Up to a maximum of $48.31 for transport costs |
|
Accommodation allowance |
|
|
1 to 4 days |
$234.50 per night if not accepting employer-provided accommodation |
|
More than one week |
$178.90 per night, up to a maximum of $894.63 per week |
| Accommodation reimbursement |
Reimbursement based on specified weekly limits |
| Shared accommodation |
Provided by employer with written agreement |
|
Meals while travelling |
|
|
One to 4 days |
$32.96 per meal period if not provided with meals |
| One week or more |
Up to a maximum of $334.30 per week or $66.86 per day (in a broken week) |
|
Incidentals allowance while travelling |
Up to a maximum of $110.93 per week or $22.19 per day (in a broken week) |
|
Eligibility |
Specific circumstances may exempt certain allowances |
|
Transportation of luggage and instruments |
|
|
Transportation of luggage |
Reimbursement for transportation up to a maximum weight of 40 kilograms |
| Insurance for luggage and instruments |
Reimbursement for insurance costs, unless employer provides transport |
How is the leave managed in the Live Performance Award?
In the Live Performance Award, leave entitlements for employees are determined by the National Employment Standards (NES) and the classification of the employee.
Annual leave
Annual leave is provided for in the NES.
- Before annual leave, the employer must pay the employee their regular weekly wage plus a 17.5% loading.
- If an employee takes annual leave in advance, they are not entitled to the loading. However, if they continue their employment until the date they would have become entitled to annual leave, the loading becomes payable based on the ordinary rate of pay on that day.
- The loading is not applicable for periods of service less than 12 months.
Public holidays
Public holiday entitlements are provided for in the NES.
- If an employee’s scheduled time off (rostered time off) falls on a public holiday, they will either be given an extra day off at a mutually agreed time with the employer.
- Alternatively, the employee may receive an additional day’s pay instead, which should be paid within 7 days of the public holiday.
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