This article provides guidelines about when to use the different work types and tags that are included as part of the pre-built Professional Employees Award 2020 package. For further information about the Professional Employees Award 2020, refer to: Professional Employees Award.
Key updates
Select the current financial year tab to see award updates for the 2024/25 financial year, while all previous updates before this time you can find in the historical financial years tab.
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We have removed the (*asterisk) for unused leave categories to avoid duplicate leave category when applying award updates.1st
We have updated the award to reflect the Fair Work Commission's National Minimum Wage increase detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2023-24 decision and also includes updates to expense-related allowances. You can find more information on the Determinations here and here.
These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after the 1st July 2024. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run before the first full pay period beginning on or after the 1st July 2024.
All rule sets has been updated to include a rule for Paid Family Domestic Violence Leave.
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New Leave Allowance Templates for Permanent employees has been created.
- Per clause 19.2(b), employees may be entitled to annual leave without leave loading of 17.5%.
- Per clause 19.3, shiftworkers are entitled to an additional week of annual leave.
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We have updated the award to reflect the Variation of Professional Employees Award 2020 on Commission’s own motion (AM2022/7). You can find information on the Determination here. This determination does not take effect until the first full pay period that starts on or after 16 September 2023.
Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run before the first full pay period beginning on or after 16 September 2023.
We have created new pay categories and adjusted the rules for both casual and permanent employees in line with the determination to accommodate the following conditions of pay.
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Penalty for hours worked between 10pm-6am, Monday to Saturday
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Hours worked on Sunday
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Hours worked on Public Holiday
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Overtime hours after 38 hours per week
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Public Holiday Overtime
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From 1 August, all employees are entitled to 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave each year. The (Unpaid) Family and Domestic Violence Leave configuration settings under Awards have been updated - the leave category is disabled from award leave allowance templates, and the work type is not enabled automatically for all employees. Please ensure that employees no longer use the unpaid leave category or work type.
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We have updated the award to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s national minimum wage increase detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2022-23 decision and includes updates to expense-related allowances. You can find information on the determinations here and here. These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after the 1st July 2023. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run before the first full pay period beginning on or after the 1st of July 2023.
The award has been updated to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s national minimum wage increase detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2021-22 decision. This also includes updates to expense-related allowances. Information on the determinations can be found here and here. These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2022. Please install these updates AFTER you have finalised your last pay run prior to the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2022.
Unpaid Pandemic Leave has been disabled as this entitlement has now expired within this award. Additional information can be found on the Fairwork website.
The Unpaid Pandemic Leave pay category has been updated and counts as service for entitlements under awards and the National Employment Standards.
If any staff have used this category previously, please adjust their Annual, Personal, and Long Service Leave balances for any period of unpaid pandemic leave previously taken.
To identify affected employees and enter the leave accrual see: Calculating Missing Leave Accrual for Unpaid Pandemic Leave Taken.
Updates have been made to all rule sets to ensure that when the work type Public Holiday Not Worked is selected, the correct pay category is applied.
The award has been updated in line with the ATO's requirements for STP Phase 2 reporting. The reporting of gross earnings is now being disaggregated into distinguishable categories. The pay category payment classifications have been updated in line with the ATO specification categories found here. For further information please see our STP support article.
The award pay rate template Permanent - Graduate professional/medical research employee - level 1.1 - 3 year degree rate has been updated to $27.09 & Permanent - Graduate professional/medical research employee - level 1.1 - 4 or 5 year degree to $27.79, in line with the Fair Work Commission's latest pay rates.
The award has been updated to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s national minimum wage increase of 2.5% detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2020-21 decision. This also includes updates to expense-related allowances. Information on the determinations can be found here and here.
These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2021. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run prior to the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2021.
Updates have also been made to the leave category Family & Domestic Violence Leave, so that the balance is displayed in days instead of hours in line with the National Employment Standards.
Once the update is installed, all employees' FDV leave balances will be displayed in days, not hours. This will mean that an employee’s balance may now show as 38 days. For further instruction on how to correct the balance, please see How to Fix Family & Domestic Violence Leave Balance Data.
This update is to ensure that any new installs of this award conducted since 1 July are now captured with the SG increase from 9.5% to 10% for all pay categories. If you have installed this award between 1 July 2021 to 8 July 2021 for the first time, please ensure you select "NO" to preserve custom pay categories. If you were using this award prior to 1 July 2021, then you do not need to select "NO." Further information can be found in Incorrect SG rate used in pay runs article here.
The award pay rate templates have been updated to ensure that the legislated superannuation guarantee (SG) rate will increase automatically from 9.5% to 10% effective from 1 July 2021. Please ensure you install this update prior to 1 July 2021 for this change to take effect.
What does this mean? Any pay run with a date paid on or from 1 July 2021 will automatically calculate SG at 10% of OTE. Additionally, on the 1st of July, we will update references to 9.5% on all applicable screens in KeyPay. For more information, including any exclusions, check out this article from the ATO.
The award, as part of Group 2 Awards, has been updated to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s national minimum wage increase of 1.75% detailed in the Annual Wage Review 2019-20 decision. Information on the determinations can be found here.
These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 November 2020. Please install these updates AFTER you have finalised your last pay run prior to the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 November 2020.
The pay conditions rule set Casual has been updated to include clause 24.1(c)(ii) where overtime is to be paid when a casual employee works in excess of 38 hours per week or 76 hours in a fortnight, depending on the rule set period selected.
The award has been updated to reflect the High Court of Australia's decision on the accrual of personal/carer's leave, which overturns the decision made by the Full Federal Court of Australia, with personal/carer's leave being calculated on working days, not hours. Information on the decision can be found here. As such, we have removed the Personal/Carer's (10 days) Leave Allowance templates and updated associated employment agreements. Please note, this update will not remove any of the above from a business where the award was already installed prior to 25 August 2020. However, any new award installs from 25 August 2020 will not display personal/carer's (10 days) leave details.
For further information on migrating from daily personal/carers leave accruals to hourly, please refer here.
The award pay rate templates have been updated to reflect the Australian Taxation Office's decision to increase the cents per kilometre rate for work-related car expense deductions to 72 cents per kilometre. The new rate applies from the first paid date in the 2020-21 financial year.
The award has been updated to reflect changes made as part of the Fair Work Commission decision around flexibility during coronavirus. The new schedule allows employees to take up to two (2) weeks of unpaid pandemic leave. A new pay category (Unpaid Pandemic Leave Taken), leave category and work type (Unpaid Pandemic Leave) have been created. Also, the rule sets have been updated, where necessary, to include/exclude the work type and leave category to some pay conditions. Further, the leave allowance templates have been updated to ensure this new leave category is enabled and is now accessible for employees to take this leave when required.
Further, under this new schedule employees can take up to twice as much annual leave at a proportionally reduced rate if their employer agrees. The employee's pay rate and leave balance will need to be manually adjusted to half in each pay run for the period of leave.
Due to recent changes to the interpretation of personal/carer's leave accrual under the National Employment Standards, updates have been made to the setup of the award. Further information can be found here.
A new leave category called Personal/Carer's (10 days) Leave has been created. Also, new leave allowance templates (LATs) have been created specific to 10 days accrual per year for each state, and the LATs have been attached to the current employment agreements for selection options for an employee's LAT in their Employee Default Pay Run screen. Any rules impacted by Personal/Carer's Leave have also been updated with the new leave category.
Instructions on converting the accruals to the 10-day method can be found here.
An update to the pay rate templates to change Kilometre allowance - above ATO limit super from 9.5% to 0% as this should not attract super.
The pay rate templates and employment agreements have been updated to include Experienced Medical Research Level 5 for Full Time, Part Time, and Casual.
The award has been updated to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s national minimum wage increase of 3% from its Annual Wage Review 2018-19 decision. This also includes updates to expense-related allowances. Information on the determinations can be found here and here.
These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2019. Please install these updates after you have finalised your last pay run prior to the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2019.
The award has been updated to reflect changes made as part of the Fair Work Commision's 4-year review of modern awards. Professional research employees employed by medical research institutes (as defined) are now covered by this award. The determination can be found here.
A new schedule of classifications has been included for these employees. The pay rate templates and employment agreements have been updated inline with this change.
The changes apply from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 February 2019.
The award has been updated to reflect changes made as part of the Fair Work Commision 4-year review of modern awards. The change is a newly created clause 11.4(c) - Casual minimum Engagement. This now provides for casual employees to be paid for at least two consecutive hours of work on each occasion they are required to attend work.
This change is reflected in the Professional Award Rule Set.
Please note that the change comes into effect on the first full pay period on or after 1 October 2018. This means that you should only install this update once you have completed the last pay period for hours worked during September 2018. The Fair Work Determination can be found here.
The award has been updated to reflect changes made as part of the Fair Work Commission 4-year review of modern awards. The determination for the new clause in the modern award allowing employees to take unpaid leave to deal with family and domestic violence can be found here. Family and domestic violence leave applies from the first full pay period on or after 1 August 2018. Further information can be found at Fair Work Commission.
Employees, including part-time and casual employees, are entitled to 5 days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave each year of their employment. The 5-day entitlement renews each 12 months of employment but does not accumulate if the leave is not used.
A new leave category has been created (Family and Domestic Violence Leave) and a new work type (Family and Domestic Violence Leave taken). The leave allowance templates and any impacted rule conditions have also been updated.
The award has been updated to reflect the Fair Work Commission’s national minimum wage increase of 3.5% from its Annual Wage Review 2017-18 decision. This also includes updates to expense-related allowances.
These changes come into effect from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2018. Please install these updates AFTER you have finalised your last pay run prior to the first full pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2018.
Additionally, the following change has been made as part of this update:
- The payment classification settings for allowance-based pay categories have been updated as per Single Touch Payroll STP requirements.
Created kilometre allowance pay categories - above and below ATO limits.
Coverage
This award generally covers employers throughout Australia with respect to their employees performing professional engineering and professional scientific duties. Please see section 4 of the award for more details on the scope of coverage of this award.
Installing the pre-built award package
For details on how to install and configure this pre-built award template, please review the detailed help article here.
While every effort is made to provide a high-quality service, YourPayroll does not accept responsibility for, guarantee, or warrant the accuracy, completeness, or up-to-date nature of the service. Before relying on the information, users should carefully evaluate its accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance for their purposes, and should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances.
Special Notes
Categories (work types, tags, pay categories) that have been marked with an (*asterisk) are no longer used in rules. It still remains visible in the platform for auditing/reporting purposes.
Work types
The below lists and explains the work types an employee can select on their timesheet.
| Annual Leave taken. | Choose this work type when annual leave was taken. |
| Community Service Leave taken. | Choose this work type when community service leave was taken. |
| Compassionate Leave taken. |
Choose this work type when a roster day off was taken. |
| Hours worked. | Use this work type to represent ordinary hours, unless another work type is more specific. |
| Kilometres travelled. | Enter the number of units travelled for business purposes. One unit is equivalent to 1 kilometre. |
| Leave without pay. | Choose this work type when the employee has taken leave without pay. |
| Long Service Leave taken. | Choose this work type when long service leave was taken. |
| Personal/Carer's Leave taken. | Choose this work type when personal or carer’s leave is taken. |
| Public holiday not worked. | Choose this work type when the day is a public holiday but the employee has a day off (permanent employees only). |
| RDO Leave taken. | Choose this work type when a roster day off is taken. |
| TIL Leave taken | Choose this work type when time in lieu leave is taken. |
Tags
The following tags are available for application to employees under the Professional Employees Award 2010.
| TIL. | Choose this tag if the employee has agreed to receive time in lieu instead of pay for additional hours. |
Further information
Time off instead of payment for overtime leave accrues at the same rate as the number of overtime hours worked. For example, an employee who worked two overtime hours has an entitlement to two hours’ time off. If you do take time off for overtime and the time off you intend, pay it out, you must pay at the overtime rate applicable to the overtime when worked
It also applies when you terminate an employee and you have to pay out the time. To pay it out correctly, you will need to record the overtime rate manually while you are processing the time in lieu accrual. We suggest that you record the overtime details in the Notes section of the leave accrual line in the pay run.
If you are required to pay out the time off for overtime either before termination or during termination, you can run a Pay Run Audit Report. It will show the pay runs for the employee where they accrued Time in Lieu, enabling you to determine the applicable rates. Next, you can run an Employee Payment History Report to determine if they took any of the time off for overtime. You can then determine the correct balance based on the number of hours by taking the equivalent to the overtime payment that you made.
Example: an employee who worked two (2) overtime hours at what would have been the rate of time and a half, is then entitled to three (3) hours of time off leave to be accrued. In our above example (the first accrual line of the screen shot) you would take 0.5 hours x 1.5 = 0.75 hours. Therefore, you will need to adjust the time-in-lieu balance by adding a further 0.25 hours (0.75 hours – 0.5 hours = 0.25 hours).