Understanding Modern Awards
Course overview
Gain the confidence to interpret and apply modern awards accurately from a payroll perspective. This course explores the different components of a modern award that impact employee pay and entitlements, ensuring you stay compliant and informed in today’s complex industrial relations environment.
Delivered in an interactive virtual classroom by qualified payroll professionals with extensive operational experience, this highly engaging course combines expert instruction, real-world case studies, and practical exercises to help you apply your learning immediately in the workplace.
Intended Audience
This course is ideal for:
- Payroll professionals with more than 6 months of experience
- Senior payroll officers, team leaders, or payroll managers
- Bookkeepers and accountants who process or review terminations
- Business managers overseeing payroll teams
- System providers seeking to understand legislative impacts on termination payments
About this Course
Delivered in a virtual classroom environment, this highly engaging program combines expert instruction, hands-on practice, and real-world examples so you can apply what you learn immediately in your workplace.
- Class size: Maximum 20 participants
- Duration: 7 CPD hours
Members should consider the relevance of the activity to their role. Attendees must remain logged in for the full duration of the course and be interactive to earn CPD hours.
- Resources: Comprehensive course booklet provided
- Certificate: Issued upon successful completion
- Member discounts apply
Upcoming Training Event Dates
Virtual Classroom
November 20th
08:45 to 16:45 AEDT VirtualYou will learn
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Understand the industrial relations framework in Australia.
- Determine which modern award(s) apply to your workplace and employees.
- Identify differences between full-time, part-time, and casual employment and how award conditions vary.
- Apply minimum wages and allowances correctly.
- Interpret key award clauses including ordinary hours, overtime, shift work, and penalty rates.
- Understand entitlements to meal and rest breaks and the pay implications if they are not provided.
- Identify additional leave entitlements in awards, such as leave loading or extra leave for shift workers.
- Recognise when superannuation obligations extend beyond SG requirements.
- Locate award variations and interpret past changes effectively.
- Use Fair Work Ombudsman tools to assist with award interpretation.
- Understand the basics of annualised wage arrangements and how they apply under modern awards.
- Know when and how to use Individual Flexibility Arrangements (IFAs), including best practice approaches.
Our Trainers
Louise Missen
Principal Consultant, Member Services
Jacqueline Carceller
Payroll Consultant
Maria Nikoletatos
Senior Payroll ConsultantLouise Missen
Like most payroll professionals, Louise fell into the payroll world many moons ago, almost by mistake. She now has over fifteen years’ experience in Australian payroll, working for a number of great Australian brands in different industries. With all this knowledge Louise now focuses on training and supporting our members and students to grow their payroll knowledge.
Away from the office, Louise can often be found spending time with family and friends. She lives by the quote ‘Anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you’ by Misty Copeland.
Jacqueline Carceller
Jacqueline brings calm, capability, and a touch of creative flair to everything she does. By day, she’s known for her sharp attention to detail and payroll knowledge. By night, you’ll find her curled up with a good book, proving that quiet achievers often run the world.
Her dog, Calvin, self appointed CEO of the household, keeps operations in check, while her macramé creations add a little handmade charm to her downtime. If there’s a gathering, Jacqueline’s legendary grazing boards could make even a MasterChef contestant weep with envy. She’s proof that precision and creativity can be the perfect match.
Maria Nikoletatos
Maria was APA’s very first employee, and to this day, she’s still the most entertaining. Known affectionately as our resident payroll nerd, Maria has an unmatched passion for getting payroll right. She’s the person who actually enjoys reading payroll legislation in her spare time (yes, really) and her reputation for razor sharp knowledge is legendary.
As one of APA’s most enthusiastic trainers and our living, breathing knowledge base, Maria is the go to for even the trickiest payroll questions. If she doesn’t know the answer… well, no one does.