The Modern Awards

Many small and medium businesses would not previously have been covered directly by a Federal Award, but will now be covered by the relevant Modern Award in their industry. In some cases, Modern Awards will impose conditions significantly different than the previous State Award, or Notional Agreement Preserving State Award (NAPSA) that applied under the Workchoices system, and employers need to make sure that they make any changes to their workplace practices that may be necessary to comply with the terms of any applicable Modern Award.

Some sectors that may have been previously largely Award free, such as private training enterprises and colleges, are now covered by Modern Awards, and this has in some cases required significant changes to work practices.

Back to Significant Changes for Small and Medium Business.