The state Shop and Warehouse (Wholesale and Retail Establishments) Award has been updated by the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission (WAIRC), with the changes effective from the first full pay period on or after 5 June 2024.

The updates to the Shop and Warehouse Award will ensure the award better reflects contemporary retail trading arrangements and removes a number of outdated and obsolete provisions to improve clarity and make it easier for employers and employees to understand and comply with its provisions.

The Shop and Warehouse Award has been updated as part of a process being undertaken by the WAIRC to review various private sector WA awards.

Significant updates have been made to the working arrangements and other provisions in the Shop and Warehouse Award.

Key changes are:

• new provisions for part time employees, particularly the inclusion of a provision that allows a part time employee to request to work more than 64 hours per fortnight;
• a new classification structure that streamlines multiple positions without changing the level / pay rates of these positions;
• changes to the casual employment provisions, including:
  • an updated definition of “casual employee”;
  • standardisation of the casual loading at 25% for all casual engagements; and
  • the inclusion of additional information on the method for applying the casual loading to penalty rates;
• updates to the hours of duty and rostering arrangements to reflect current retail trading hours legislation and modern working patterns including:
  • the span of ordinary hours for General Retail Shops has been extended for Monday to Friday to finish at 9.00pm on all evenings; and
  • a new span of hours for Sunday has been added – from 9am to 6pm - reflecting the fact that General Retail Shops can now trade on Sundays in Perth;
• changes to ensure that all leave conditions are not below the minimum standards in the Minimum Conditions of Employment Act 1993;
• standardisation and simplification of penalty rates and overtime provisions;
• modernisation of allowance provisions so that most allowances become self-updating; and
• removal of inconsistencies with state employment laws and those provisions of the national Fair Work Act 2009 which apply to state system employers and employees.

Amendments have also been made to remove obsolete references and update a variety of provisions to ensure that the award reflects contemporary practices in the industry.

In addition, the Shop and Warehouse Award has been restructured into a user-friendly format, with like clauses grouped together under functional headings and clause headings hyperlinked for ease of reference.

The 2024 changes to the Shop and Warehouse (Wholesale and Retail Establishments) Award publication provides a more detailed overview of the changes to the award that are effective from the first full pay period on or after 5 June 2024.

The current WA award summary, available at www.demirs.wa.gov.au/awardsummaries outlines the conditions that apply until the day before the effective date.  

Wageline will publish a new version of the WA award summary for the Shop and Warehouse Award, which provides information on the award provisions that will come into effect on the first full pay period on or after 5 June 2024.