Art studios and recreational facilities are important leisure centres in the local community that are widely used by customers. As an employer, it is your responsibility to ensure that you are providing all of your workers with their lawful entitlements. This extends to artists, writers, customer service agents, sports coaches, recreation officers and any other employees who aid with running your business. The law that applies to recreational centres is very similar to that of employees in other industries. You must comply with the Fair Work Act 2009 and its associated National Employment Standards and modern awards system. This article will explain the protections that the law gives to arts and recreation sector workers and how you can meet your obligations.
Who Are You Hiring?
You should first decide what kind of employee you want to hire. Are they full-time, part-time or casual? Someone full-time must be offered an average of 38 hours per week, while someone part-time can be offered anything less.
The protections for each employment level are slightly different. For example, full-time and part-time workers must be given paid leave entitlements. The entitlements you owe to each employee are summarised in the Fair Work Information Statement, which you must provide to new staff upon hiring them. You must also give casual staff a Casual Employment Information Statement outlining their rights.
On What Basis Are They Paid?
The next question to think about is pay rates and other associated entitlements. You can find the relevant entitlements that you must pay your employees in their modern award, enterprise agreement or employment contract. If your employee is covered by a modern award but you want to negotiate a different pay, you can do so using individual contracts or register an enterprise agreement that applies to all of your employees.
However, awards outline the minimum entitlements that you must provide to employees, and you cannot lawfully undermine these entitlements. Under an enterprise agreement, your employees must be ‘better off overall’ compared to their award.
The amount you pay your employees must equal or exceed the entitlements in their applicable modern award. A typical award will contain:
- minimum rates of pay;
- maximum work hours;
- leave entitlements;
- flexible work arrangements; and
- bonus payments and allowances.
As there are over 100 awards, it is crucial that you select the right award for your organisation’s circumstances. The most suitable awards for the arts and recreation sectors are the:
- Amusement, Events and Recreation Award, which covers workers such as ride attendants, animal attendants, tour guides, customer service officers and concierges;
- Live Performance Award, covering arts workers such as crowd controllers, car parking attendants, crewing employees, mail room attendants, program sellers and stage door attendants; and
- Graphic Arts, Printing and Publishing Award, covering workers such as visual artists, printers and machinists.
Due to the complexity of the modern awards, you may find it useful to engage an employment lawyer to assist with interpretation and application.
Continue reading this article below the formWhat about Work Health and Safety?
Work health and safety (WHS) legislation states that employers have a duty of care to take reasonable precautions to avoid exposing employees to unreasonable risks of injury. Fortunately, most states and territories have enacted harmonised laws that set your work health and safety responsibilities.
The steps to ensure work health and safety vary based on the circumstances. It is crucial to consider the likelihood of a hazard and the degree of harm, including psychological harm, that might result from it. A high magnitude of harm typically calls for a more robust protective response.
Injuries sometimes arise from handling heavy objects or moving furniture. To provide a workplace free of health and safety incidents, you should consider:
- implementing adequate training and hire qualified staff;
- conducting regular safety audits and promptly rectifying any identified risks;
- consulting regularly with staff to help identify threats; and
- checking that your complaints procedure is adequate for detecting problems.
In some states, a company director may be personally liable for breaches of health and safety duties. You can protect yourself by showing that you have acted honestly and fulfilled your duty of care by diligently organising the implementation of work health and safety obligations. For art studios and recreational facilities, this may appear as removing any hazards on sporting grounds or toxic chemicals that customers may come into contact with.
Guarding against Discrimination
All aspects of the recruitment, onboarding, discipline, promotion and termination process must be free from discrimination. Discrimination based on protected attributes such as race, age, or sexuality is generally not allowed. For example, you cannot take adverse action based on age unless age is a necessary job requirement. Adverse action includes, but is not limited to:
- firing an employee;
- changing an employee’s job to their disadvantage; or
- not hiring someone.
One way to prevent discrimination is to establish processes and criteria for hiring, evaluating, and making career decisions. This ensures that decisions are based on merit rather than personal biases. Education programs help staff understand the importance of merit-based choices and the negative impacts of discrimination.
Another helpful tactic is fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion by recognising staff achievements and appropriate cultural traditions. This can help your employees feel valued and respected, regardless of their characteristics.
As an employer, it is essential to understand what employment laws have changed and their implications for your business — particularly the changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 through the new Closing the Loopholes legislation.
Key Takeaways
Overall, it is important that you understand and abide by labour laws relevant to the arts and recreation sector when hiring and managing employees. This includes understanding the minimum entitlements that you owe your employees, as outlined in the applicable modern award. You should also consider best practice guidelines for recruitment, onboarding, work health and safety and equal opportunity. Having internal policies to address the employer-employee relationship will ensure that art studios and recreational facilities run smoothly.
If you require assistance with understanding your employer obligations, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 1300 544 755 or visit our membership page.
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