In April 2020, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) introduced temporary measures in modern awards in response to the need to provide employers and employees flexibility in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns.
These measures included agreeing to part-time employment, directing employees to take annual leave, unpaid pandemic leave and taking annual leave at half pay.
Many of these temporary measures were included as schedules to the modern awards and had long expired and were no longer in effect.
The FWC has now amended a number of modern awards which remove the schedules dealing with these flexibility and/or additional measures.
The FWC also proposed not to extend and to delete those schedules which expired on 30 June 2022. However, we note that applications have been made to the FWC to reinstate “Schedule X – Additional Measures during the COVID-19 pandemic” into many modern awards including the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 2010, Aged Care Award 2010, Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020and Amusement, Events and Recreation Award 2020.
We will keep you updated with further developments in relation to these temporary measures.
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