What is the SCHADS Award?
Fundamentally, the SCHADS Award provides a legal framework for employment conditions – including pay rates, leave entitlements and working hours – for employees in the social, community, home care and disability services sectors. This award was designed to ensure fairness and consistency across these industries and covers the minimum standards that employers must follow. These include ensuring correct pay for regular hours, overtime, penalty rates and entitlements such as annual leave and meal breaks.
Administered by the Fair Work Commission, the SCHADS Award applies to full-time, part-time and casual employees in the relevant sectors. Understanding the provisions is key for employers wanting to maintain compliance, safeguard pay transparency, reduce legal risks and foster a motivated and productive workforce.
Related: How to Hire a Disability Support Worker
For which employers is the SCHADS Award relevant?
The SCHADS Award applies to employers that provide services important to the community. This includes organisations offering social welfare services, such as youth programs, counselling and housing assistance. Employers who provide in-home care, such as personal assistance or cleaning services for the elderly or individuals with disabilities, are covered as well. In addition, disability support organisations providing community access programs or skill development services are also subject to the award.
Importantly, the SCHADS Award covers not-for-profit organisations, private businesses and government-funded service providers. However, roles governed by other modern awards or enterprise agreements are excluded. This means that to ensure compliance, employers need to review their employees’ responsibilities and confirm their coverage.
Recent updates to the SCHADS Award in 2024
Keeping up to date with any changes to the SCHADS Award is a must for Australian employers. In 2024, the most notable updates included revisions to pay rates, overtime calculations and minimum engagement periods. For example, SCHADS Award pay rates now reflect increases made under the Fair Work Commission’s Annual Wage Review, which affects base rates, penalties and allowances. Employers can refer to the Fair Work Ombudsman website for detailed tables reflecting these changes.
Casual and part-time employees of in-home care services now have clearer rights to overtime pay, particularly for hours exceeding 38 per week or outside standard hours. Additionally, minimum shift durations for casual employees have been revised to improve job stability, with payment guaranteed for a specified minimum engagement period. Furthermore, provisions for remote and hybrid work now ensure that employees are fairly compensated for any out-of-office work, including on-call responsibilities.
For employers, this means adjusting their payroll systems and employment contracts accordingly to reflect these updates and stay compliant.
Related: Contractors, Temporary and Part-Time Casual Workers: What’s the Difference?
How to get started with the SCHADS award
Complying with the SCHADS Award involves several key steps, beginning with determining whether it applies to your organisation in the first place. To this end, employers need to review their workforce’s job descriptions and duties to identify which roles fall under the award’s coverage. An organisation providing disability services as well as healthcare, for example, may find that different awards apply to other employee groups.
Next, it is essential that employers familiarise themselves with the SCHADS Award’s pay rates, allowances and conditions. Understanding how to calculate penalty rates, overtime and casual loading is necessary for navigating pay transparency laws and ensuring accurate payroll management. For instance, casual employees are entitled to an additional load on their hourly rate to compensate for their lack of paid leave entitlements.
It is also a good idea for employers to take stock of their current roster practices to ensure compliance with relevant working hour provisions. The SCHADS Award mandates that ordinary hours fall within a specific time period and includes detailed rules for split shifts and required breaks. Reviewing rosters can help organisations identify potential non-compliance issues and optimise staffing schedules to meet client needs and adhere to legal obligations.
Training and education are also key to ensuring compliance. HR staff and managers need to be well-informed about the requirements of the SCHADS Award, including the recent updates. Offering training sessions or creating in-house resources can help staff understand their responsibilities and improve compliance.
Regular payroll audits are another important aspect of ensuring employees are paid correctly, preventing disputes and potential penalties. Here, employers may benefit from using workforce management tools or consulting Fair Work advisers for guidance if necessary.
Related: A Guide to the Minimum Wage for Australia
Examples of the SCHADS Award in practice
An example of the SCHADS Award in a real-life scenario might involve a social services organisation employing part-time and casual workers. By adhering to the award, the employer ensures that casual staff are paid for a minimum shift length and part-time employees receive overtime pay when they exceed their contracted hours. This ensures legal compliance and fosters goodwill among employees.
Similarly, a home care provider might schedule split shifts to cater to clients’ varying daily needs. Compliance with SCHADS Award requirements guarantees that employees receive adequate breaks and correct pay for their overtime hours. These practices contribute to higher employee satisfaction levels and better service delivery for clients.
Related: Employee Satisfaction Surveys: What They Are and Why They’re Important for Your Business
The SCHADS Award is instrumental in promoting fair work practices in Australia’s social, community, home care and disability services sectors. It provides essential employee protections while offering a framework for employers to create supportive and compliant workplaces. By staying current on any SCHADS Award revisions and taking proactive steps to apply its principles, organisations can meet their legal obligations, increase employee satisfaction and, ultimately, improve the services they provide to the community.
