What is Award Finder?
From 1 January 2010, modern awards cover most workplaces.
You can use the Fair Work Ombudsman’s new Award Finder to search for your modern award.
You can also use Award Finder to search for the pre-modern award that covered you before 1 January 2010. If you know the pre-modern award you’re covered by but you’re not sure which modern award applies to you, Award Finder will help you locate the right information.
Important! You will need to know your modern award and the relevant pre-modern award to use other resources on this website (including PayCheck, Payroll Check and the Pay Rates Calculator).
Award Finder also provides information for state referral employers and employees covered by Division 2B Awards and Enterprise Awards.
Finding the right pay
Transitional arrangements in most modern awards allow new minimum pay rates, loadings and penalties to be phased in over a period of four years commencing on 1 July 2010 (1 February 2011 for employers and employees who were covered by a Division 2B State Award) until the full modern award rates apply on 1 July 2014.
The transitional arrangements include a phasing schedule which allows wages, loadings and penalty rates which are higher or lower than pre-existing conditions to be progressively introduced. Where there was no existing loading or penalty applying under the existing instrument then the new loading or penalty in the modern award is also progressively introduced.
Important! This means you should not rely solely on the pay rates, loadings and penalty rates set out in modern awards because they may not currently apply in full. If your modern award contains a Schedule relating to transitional arrangements, you need to refer to the relevant pre-modern award as well as the modern award to calculate minimum rates of pay.
Important! From time to time we update pay rates in our pay tools. These updates could affect one or more modern awards. Employers should always subscribe to the pay rate updates for the awards that apply to them from the Pay rate updates page. You can also see a history of these updates going back to 1 July 2011.