If your business provides legal and/or legal support services, or if you operate a labour hire business for the legal services industry, then your business is covered by the Legal Services Award 2020. Do you know the ins and outs of this award, and what kinds of mistakes you might be making as a business owner? Keep reading this Legal Kitz blog to find out more about it.
Am I covered by the Legal Services Award 2020?
The Legal Services Award covers all private legal practices, not including community legal centres, Aboriginal legal services, the State public service, or employers whose primary activity is not within the legal services industry.
If an employee is:
- undertaking work of a clerical or administrative nature;
- a law clerk (defined as someone who spends most of their time interviewing clients, preparing documents, and general assistant work); or
- a law graduate (defined as someone who has a legal qualification and is undertaking training in a law firm).
The Award applies to their employment. The Award does not cover:
- admitted solicitors;
- other employed professionals (for example, IT staff or accountants); or
- CEOs and other senior managerial staff.
What are the minimum required wages and allowances?
As is typical for most awards, employees are split into full time, part time and casual workers, based around the standard full time 38 hour week from Monday to Friday, between 7am and 6:30pm.
The minimum wage rate is summarised in Schedule B of the Legal Services Award, which includes the minimum hourly rates of pay including overtime and penalty rates. For example, the hourly pay rate for a full-time law clerk is $30.29 as of November 2022. These wages must be paid fortnightly unless agreed otherwise.
An employer may also be required to pay allowances. These include:
- a meal allowance in some overtime situations;
- a uniform allowance where a special uniform is required;
- a vehicle allowance where an employee is required to use their own vehicle for occasional work purposes;
- reimbursement of travelling costs home where an employee finishes overtime late; and
- where it is a condition of employment to provide a motor vehicle, the employer must pay for registration, running and maintenance costs.
Overtime
If an employee has been asked to work more than 38 hours a week and those additional hours are reasonable, then they must be paid overtime. Overtime rates must be paid where an employee works:
- outside the spread of ordinary hours on any day;
- in excess of the average of 38 hours per week for full time employees; or
- in excess of the agreed number of hours for part time employees.
These rates vary between time and a half to double time and a half.
Annual leave
Full-time and part-time employees are entitled to 4 weeks of paid annual leave for each year of service. The Legal Services Award requires that:
- during a period of annual leave, payment must be made according to ordinary wages plus a 17.5% loading;
- an employer can reasonably require an employee to take annual leave as part of a close down (e.g. over the christmas period), with at least 4 weeks notice;
- if there is more than 8 weeks annual leave accrued, the employee and employer can seek to reach agreement on reducing the annual leave balance.
Law graduates are also entitled to a maximum of 20 days a year paid study leave to attend courses, prepare for and attend examinations relating to the practical legal training required for their admission to practcse.
Legal advice
A failure to comply with the Legal Services Award 2020 can result in civil claims, civil penalties, criminal wage theft charges, and a disrupted workplace. Don’t get caught out: if you are confused about your responsibilities as a legal services worker or employer, contact Legal Kitz. You can contact us by phone on 1300 988 954 or email to [email protected]. We offer a FREE 30-minute consultation for all your legal needs.