Nurses Award Guide [MA000034]

This article provides guidelines on the Australian Nurses Award package. For more information on this award, please refer to the Nurses Award Guide [MA000034].

What is the Nurses Award?

The Nurses Award is a set of legal minimum employment standards and conditions that apply to nurses and their assistants working in the health industry in Australia.

It sets out the minimum wage rates, working hours, leave entitlements, and other conditions for nursing roles, including nursing assistants, enrolled nurses, registered nurses, nurse practitioners.

The Nurses Award aims to ensure that nurses and their assistants are treated fairly and receive reasonable pay and conditions for their work.

Who is entitled to the Nurses Award?

Coverage

The Nurses Award covers:

• employers and their employees in the health industry
• employers who employ nurses and midwifes.

Types of employment

This award covers the following employee categories:

• Full-time employee: An employee who is engaged to work either 38 hours per week or an average of 38 hours per week.
• Part-time employee: An employee is engaged to work less than an average of 38 ordinary hours per week and has reasonably predictable hours of work.
• Casual employee: An employee is engaged and paid without any guaranteed hours of work. (They are entitled to receive the minimum hourly rate applicable to their classification and pay point, as well as a loading of 25% of the minimum hourly rate applicable to their classification and pay point for each ordinary hour worked.)

The Award does not generally cover

The following employers and employees are not covered by the Nurses Award:

• medical practitioners (for example, doctors)
• registrars
• health professionals such as physiotherapists, pastoral carers and health information managers
• clerical and administration employees
• nurses employed in a primary or secondary school.

Check the award for full information on coverage and classifications.

Source reference: Nurses Award [MA000034] clauses 3, 4 and schedule B

How is the shiftwork arranged in the Nurses Award?

Shiftworker

Hours of Work

*An accrued day off (ADO) system of work may be implemented where a full-time employee works no more than 19 days in a 4 week period of 152 hours.

Breaks

How are wages and allowances calculated in the Nurses Award?

Minimum rates

Overtime rates

The overtime rate payable to an employee depends on the time at which the overtime is worked:

Penalty rates

When an employee works ordinary hours on the following days, they are entitled to the following penalty rates:

• Full-time and part-time employees

• Casual employees

* 1 The casual hourly rate is defined in clause 2—Definitions.

Allowance

How is the leave managed in the Nurses Award?

In the Nurses 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. It does not apply to casual employees.

• An employee who is not a shiftworker is entitled to 5 weeks of paid annual leave for each year of service with their employer.
• An employee who is a shiftworker is entitled to 6 weeks of paid annual leave for each year of service with their employer. (To be considered a shiftworker, an employee must be regularly rostered over 7 days of the week and regularly work on weekends.)

During a period of paid annual leave, an employer must pay an employee an additional payment for the employee’s ordinary hours of work. The additional payment is payable on leave accrued.

For an employee who would have worked on day work only or worked on shiftwork had they not been on leave, the additional payment is the greater of:

• An employee (other than a shiftworker) will be paid an annual leave loading of 17.5% of their ordinary pay on a maximum of 152 hours/4 weeks’ annual leave per annum
• Shiftworkers will be paid the higher of an annual leave loading of 17.5% of ordinary pay or the weekend and shift penalties they would have received had they not been on leave during the relevant period.

Personal Leave

Casual employees are entitled to be absent from work to care for a person who requires care or support because of:

• illness or an injury;or
• an emergency

but they’re not entitled to be paid for time away from work.

Public holidays

An employer must pay an employee who works on a public holiday or on a day that is substituted for a public holiday at the public holiday penalty rate set out in penalty rates.

• For a full-time and part-time employee, 200% of the minimum hourly rate applicable to their classification and pay point.
• For a casual employee, 200% of the casual hourly rate.

How to keep in compliance with the Nurses Award？

To comply with the Nurses Award in Australia, businesses in the Nurses industry can follow:

How can Workstem assist you?

Workstem is a one-stop payroll & HR platform with an award interpretation module and customised attendance formulas that ensure Nurses employers stay compliant with Fair Work regulations. The platform simplifies HR processes, reduces administrative burdens, and offers a user-friendly interface for small businesses and large enterprises alike.

Experience the benefits of Workstem for yourself!