In Short
- You must comply with the Hospitality Industry (General) Award or a relevant occupational award when employing staff.
- Casual employees have different entitlements, including a higher hourly rate but no paid leave.
- Flexible working arrangements must be considered, but can be refused on reasonable business grounds.
Tips for Businesses
Ensure your employment contracts clearly outline working hours, pay
rates, and break entitlements according to the relevant award.
Regularly review your workplace health and safety practices,
especially when dealing with potential hazards like slippery
surfaces or alcohol service. Keep records of any flexible work
arrangement requests and your reasons for approval or refusal.
If you run a hospitality business, you will regularly deal with various employees with differing working arrangements. It can be challenging to understand what your legal requirements are concerning employing this range of employees. This article will take you through the requirements for hours and pay for part-time and full-time workers, what flexible working arrangements you must offer them, and what your workplace health and safety obligations are. This article also examines how these requirements differ when dealing with casual employees.
Awards
A modern award is an industrial instrument that outlines the minimum employment terms and conditions for workers in particular industries and occupations under the Fair Work Act. If you work in the hospitality industry, it is likely that the Hospitality Industry (General) Award [MA000009] applies to your employees. You should confirm that your business matches the description provided within the Award.
However, this is an industry award, and you should be aware that your employees may be covered under alternative occupational awards.
Workers typically covered by the Award include:
- waiters and waitresses;
- kitchen hands, cooks, chefs and apprentice chefs;
- housekeepers, doorpersons and concierge staff;
- front office, clerical and reception staff;
- gaming attendants;
- security officers and storepersons;
- leisure attendants;
- maintenance and gardening staff;
- managerial staff who are not senior management;
- casino staff, including gaming staff, equipment technicians, security and finance officers;
- staff at holiday apartment complexes;
- catering employees working for a catering business; and
- pub owners.
Hours
The law requires that employees work no more than 38 hours per week, which equates to around 7 and a half hours per weekday. The days your employees work may differ. As a hospitality business, you may need employees to work on weekends. You should ensure that you specify which days your employees will be working in their employment agreements. Additionally, you must provide the rest breaks outlined in the Award.
If you need your employees to work additional hours beyond those agreed upon in their employee agreements, you will need to make sure these extra hours are reasonable.
To determine if extra hours are reasonable, you should ask yourself the following questions:
- Are the additional hours appropriate, considering the personal circumstances of your employees, including family circumstances and commitments?
- Do the extra hours pose a health and safety risk to my employees, considering the level of physical demands involved in their roles?
- Are the hours you need them to work necessary for the business to operate?
- Have you given the employees sufficient notice of the extra hours?
- Have your employees given you notice that they cannot work extra hours?
- What are your employees' roles and how much responsibility so they have?
- Are other employees in the industry are required to work as many extra hours?
- Do the extra hours violate their employment agreement?
- Are you compensating the employee for the extra hours?
Pay
Pay rates are determined by referring to the applicable industrial instrument, which in most cases is a modern award. As stated above, the most relevant award is the hospitality industry award. To determine the correct pay rates, you should refer to the pay guide in the applicable award. The pay guide will refer to corresponding levels, which are determined by the employee's experience, role and qualifications.
Flexible Working Arrangements
Following COVID, flexible work arrangements have become commonplace across industries. Employees can request flexible work arrangements for reasons such as:
- pregnancy;
- parental/carer responsibilities;
- disability;
- age; and
- family/domestic violence.
These arrangements can include job-sharing arrangements, changes in hours or working-from-home arrangements.
However, many such arrangements may be impractical for the carrying out of your hospitality business. For example, it would be impractical for you to allow a waiter to work from home. Under the Fair Work Act, you are allowed to refuse such requests only on "reasonable business grounds". You must also provide a written response within 21 days detailing the reasons for refusal.
Differences for Casual Employees
The previously noted requirements do not apply for casual employees. The table below outlines the different requirements for casual employees.
| Hours | There is no minimum requirement for hours for casual employees. However, you must provide a minimum of two consecutive hours for all shifts you offer your casual hospitality employees. |
| Pay | On top of the pay your employee would normally be entitled to, casual employees must be paid an additional 25% per hour. However, casuals do not need to be paid for sick days and other such leave days. |
| Flexible Working Arrangements | Casual employees are eligible to request flexible working arrangements if they have been employed regularly and systematically for at least 12 months and have a reasonable expectation of continuing employment. |
Workplace Health and Safety
The hospitality industry has a number of unique potential hazards that must be managed in order for you to meet the workplace health and safety obligations you owe to your employees. Some potential hazards include:
- Hazardous Tools and Equipment: Working with knives, hot water, and other cooking equipment can be hazardous to employees. You must have plans in place to manage those risks and deal with incidents that may arise because of them.
- Serving Alcohol: Issues can arise with customers that must be managed correctly. You can prevent alcohol related incidents with training for your employees on how to serve alcohol responsibly and how to manage belligerent customers.
- Slippery Surfaces and Spills: You must ensure that any spills are cleaned promptly and signposted correctly to avoid slips and falls.
A management plan for the hazards of your workplace is essential to fulfilling your obligations for workplace health and safety.
Key Takeaways
As someone who owns or runs a hospitality business, you must be aware of your legal obligations to your employees. For example, you must:
- not make your employees work more than their agreed hours without compensation;
- comply with the terms under the applicable modern award, such as the Hospitality Award; and
- be aware of workplace health and safety requirements and manage hazards correctly.
If you want to ensure compliance with your employment obligations, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 1300 544 755 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are casual employees entitled to flexible working arrangements?
Yes, casual employees are eligible to request flexible working arrangements if they have been employed regularly and systematically for at least 12 months and have a reasonable expectation of ongoing employment.
How do I determine which award applies to my hospitality employees?
The most common award for hospitality businesses is the Hospitality Industry (General) Award [MA000009], but your employees may fall under a different occupational award depending on their specific roles. It is important to verify the applicable award to ensure compliance.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
