Before modern awards, employment terms and conditions came from various older types of awards and other instruments. We call these pre-modern awards.
Pre-modern awards don’t apply anymore - but you might need to know which one would have applied (or did apply) to find out your minimum rates of pay. Our pay tools can help you find out.
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Types of pre-modern awards
Pre-modern awards include:
Modern awards replaced all of these on 1 January 2010.
Other older instruments
Instruments that weren’t replaced by modern awards on 1 January 2010 include:
Transitional awards
Transitional awards covered employers who aren’t otherwise in the national workplace relations system. but came under a federal award before 27 March 2006.
These awards ended on 27 March 2011. The workplaces they covered went back to the state system.
This only applies to Western Australia, because all the other states have joined the national workplace relations system.
Division 2B state awards
Division 2B state awards covered sole traders, partnership, other unincorporated entities and non-trading corporations in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania before 1 January 2010.
These awards ended on 31 December 2010. Most of the workplaces they covered now come under modern awards.
Conditions from Division 2B state awards mostly continued until 1 February 2011.
Enterprise awards
Enterprise awards are still going. The Fair Work Commission will take applications to modernise these awards until 31 December 2013. This includes state enterprise awards.