Awards & Compliance

The Awards module is where you configure the payroll rules that govern how employees are paid --- base rates, overtime, weekend and public holiday penalties, break entitlements, and leave accrual. Navigate to Dashboard -> Awards.

WoPora is built for Australian Modern Award compliance. Awards apply automatically to timesheets and pay runs once configured.

What is an Award?

An Australian Modern Award sets minimum pay rates and employment conditions for a specific industry. WoPora lets you configure your award(s) so that:

• Penalty rates are applied automatically when employees work weekends, evenings, or public holidays
• Overtime kicks in after the correct threshold
• Break rules are enforced or flagged
• Leave entitlements are correctly calculated

Once an employee is assigned an award and level, WoPora uses those rules everywhere --- timesheets, pay runs, and compliance reports.

Award Structure

Each award has:

• Award levels (e.g., Level 1, Level 2) each with their own classification
• Condition sets per employment type (casual, part-time, full-time)

Within each condition set:

Viewing Your Awards

1. Go to Dashboard -> Awards
2. Click any award to view its full configuration

Adding an Award

1. Go to Dashboard -> Awards -> Add Award
2. Enter the award name
3. Add at least one award level with a label
4. For each level, add a condition set per employment type
5. Configure each condition set (pay rule, penalty rules, break rules, leave)
6. Save

Pay Rules

• Hourly rate --- A dollar amount per hour. Used as the base when applying penalty multipliers.
• Annual salary --- Set the annual salary and standard hours per week. WoPora calculates an effective hourly rate for overtime purposes.

Penalty Rates

Penalty rules apply a multiplier to the base rate when specific conditions are met.

Types of Penalty Triggers

Stackable vs Non-Stackable

• Stackable --- Multiple penalties combine (Saturday evening = Saturday penalty × evening penalty)
• Non-stackable --- Only the highest rate applies

Example Calculation

Base rate: $25.00/hour

Break Rules

Break rules define when employees are entitled to breaks and whether those breaks are paid.

Common Patterns

Break Policies

• Auto --- Break rules are checked against the timesheet and deductions/additions applied automatically. Recommended for most organisations.
• Always --- Configured breaks always apply regardless of hours worked
• Never --- No automatic breaks; tracked from manual employee entry only

Leave Entitlements

Configure how leave accrues per employment type:

• Annual Leave --- Days per year, accrual method (progressive or upfront), leave loading percentage (typically 17.5%)
• Sick / Personal Leave --- Days per year, progressive accrual, carries over year to year
• Casual employees --- Typically do NOT accrue annual/sick leave; the 25% casual loading replaces this

TOIL (Time Off in Lieu)

In the award condition set, the TOIL rule sets:

• Weekly threshold --- Hours before TOIL starts accruing
• Accrual multiplier --- How much TOIL per extra hour (1.0 = hour for hour; 1.5 = 90 min per 60 min)
• Maximum balance --- Cap on accumulated TOIL
• Expiry --- Weeks before unused TOIL expires or is paid out

Assigning Awards to Employees

1. Go to Dashboard -> Employees and open the employee's profile
2. Go to the Employment tab
3. Select the Award and Award Level
4. Confirm employment type matches the condition set
5. Save

Compliance Dashboard

Shows employees with missing awards, recent pay run items that triggered compliance flags, break rule violations, and public holiday calculation issues. Resolve each flag to ensure accurate, compliant payroll.

Updating Award Rates

Fair Work updates award rates annually (usually July 1). To update:

1. Go to Dashboard -> Awards
2. Open the relevant award
3. Edit each condition set's pay rule and update the hourly rate
4. Save

Rate changes apply from the save date --- historical pay runs are not changed.

Related Docs

• Pay Runs
• Leave Management
• Public Holidays
• Employees --- Award Assignment