Fair Work Commission

Modernisation & termination of enterprise instruments

An 'enterprise instrument' is an instrument (or document) that covers employees in a single enterprise, as defined in Items 2 and 3 of Schedule 6 of the Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 2009 (the Transitional Act).

Schedule 6 of the Transitional Act required the Fair Work Commission to notify all persons covered by an enterprise instrument that they must make an application to modernise their instrument by 31 December 2013. If no application was made to modernise or terminate an enterprise instrument by that date, the enterprise instrument was terminated.

Senior Deputy President Acton issued a Statement [2013] FWC 2790 on 22 May 2013 in relation to this process.

Download

• Enterprise instruments (Word) (updated 27 February 2014)
• Fact sheet: Applications to modernise enterprise instruments (PDF) (updated 2 July 2013)

Applications to modernise enterprise instruments

To view applications to modernise enterprise awards go to the Enterprise award applications page. (Please note applications to modernise enterprise awards can no longer be made.)

Modernisation & termination of state reference public sector transitional awards

A 'State reference public sector transitional award' is a State reference transitional award or common rule to which:

• the only employers who are covered are State reference public sector employers; and
• the only employees who are covered are State reference public sector employees of those employers.

Senior Deputy President Acton issued a Statement [2013] FWC 2790 on 22 May 2013 in relation to this process.

Download

State reference public sector transitional awards (Word) (updated 27 February 2014)

Minimum wage transitional instruments

The Commission's Minimum Wages and Research Branch prepared a Research Report in 2010 (Report 6/2010) providing information about the range of transitional instruments.

Download

Minimum wage transitional instruments under the Fair Work Act 2009 and the Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 2009 (PDF)

Termination of modernisable instruments – 2011

Once all modern awards made under Part 10A of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 are in operation, the Commission must terminate any modernisable instruments that have been completely replaced by a modern award as soon as practicable.

An instrument is a legal document that outlines the terms and conditions of an employee's employment (such as an award).

Modernisable instruments are defined as:

• award-based transitional instruments – federal awards and Notional Agreements Preserving State Awards (NAPSAs) created before 27 March 2006
• transitional Australian Pay and Classification Scales – wage schedules derived from federal awards and NAPSAs on 27 March 2006 as adjusted by minimum wage decisions of the Australian Fair Pay Commission from 2006 to 2009.

Termination of some of these instruments is required by the Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 2009 (Item 3 of Schedule 5).

A number of statements and decisions have been issued in relation to this process:

• Statement [2010] FWA 3104 – 23 April 2010
• Full Bench decision [2010] FWAFB 9916 – 22 December 2010 
• Full Bench decision [2011] FWAFB 3773 – 16 June 2011
• Statement [2011] FWA 3953 – 22 June 2011

Related documents

To view documents that relate to the 2011 termination of modernisable instruments proceedings go to:

• Submissions & correspondence
• Transcripts
• Decisions & statements

This termination process is ongoing and will be completed after the Commission has dealt with all applications to modernise enterprise and State reference public sector instruments.

Lists of modernisable instruments

Commission staff have undertaken an examination of instruments to create the following lists.

These lists are intended to be indicative only. Comments can be forwarded to amod@fwc.gov.au.

Download

• Instruments capable of being terminated (Word) (updated 19 March 2012)
• Instruments that cover employees also covered by an enterprise instrument (Word) (updated 15 September 2011)
• Instruments that cover employees also covered by a State reference public sector transitional award (Word)
• Instruments which cover employees also covered by the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Industry Award 2010 (Word) [MA000100] (amended 23 August 2011)

Instruments containing long service leave provisions

Section 113 of the Fair Work Act 2009 has the effect of preserving long service leave terms in a pre-reform or state reference transitional award, regardless of whether that award has been terminated.

Commission staff have prepared a list of award-based transitional instruments relevant to the Part 10A award modernisation process that contain long service leave provisions.

This list is intended to be indicative only.

Download

List of instruments containing long service leave provisions (Word)