Hospitality, retail awards strike a nerve

Accommodation industry groups have expressed concern their members may face harsh penalties for breaching recently introduced industry award changes while bodies representing the retail sector have claimed a minor award modernisation victory.

The introduction of the Hospitality Industry General Award 2010 and the 10 National Employment Standards this year have forced hospitality businesses to face a number of changes to their respective employment arrangements.

A survey conducted by the nation’s peak body for the accommodation industry late last year found that 62 per cent of its members felt unprepared and needed more advice.

Hotel, Motel and Accommodation Association chief executive Lorraine Duffy said her workplace relations team was overwhelmed with enquires from members regarding ramifications of the changes.

“While education surrounding the new award has been delivered for some time the transitional arrangements weren’t announced until a week before Christmas,” Ms Duffy told WA Business News.

Ms Duffy believes it was an unrealistic demand of government to expect business operators, in particular small businesses which lack the resources to do the appropriate research, to make substantial changes to their employment arrangements at the busiest time of year with such little lead time.

She said smaller operators were suffering and severe penalties - $6,600 for an individual and $33,000 for a corporation - had already been imposed.

Australian Hotels Association (WA) chief executive Bradley Woods said he would be shocked if any WA businesses had already been penalised by the Fair Work Ombudsman, the prosecuting arm of Fair Work Australia.

“There’s been significant levels of frustration and costs involved in implementing changes… and there’s a whole range of bugs to iron out,” he said.

Meanwhile the Australian Retailers Association and the Retail Traders’ Association of Western Australia applauded FWA's amendments to the Modern Retail Award, which reduced planned wage increases but still failed to fully recognise the demands of the modern shopper.

Both associations said the amendments gave relief to those late night retailers meeting consumer demand but the award still penalised retailers for opening on weekends.

Extending ordinary shopping hours from 6pm to 11pm gave retailers late night shopping opportunities without the burden of penalty rates, marking an important step towards recognising retail as a 24/7 industry, the associations said.