Salaries
Weekly Touring employee salaries
- Weekly
- Touring
At minimum, Weekly Touring employees are paid the Base Award Rate per hour plus the special overtime and penalty provisions of 17.5% on top of that rate per clause 63.6(a) in the Award.
Typically, however, Weekly Touring salaries are paid above the Award minimum with remuneration set to include payment for some overtime.
The Offset Payments section applies when calculating salary paid vs hours worked against the Award minimum.
Weekly Factory employee salaries
- Weekly
- Factory
At minimum, Weekly Factory employees are paid the Base Award Rate per hour.
Factory employees are not entitled to paid overtime under the Award but TOIL (time off in lieu) instead; every one hour of overtime is equal to one hour of pay at the Base Award Rate.
Weekly Factory employees are given the option when being contracted to sign and Individual Flexibility Arrangement (IFA) to be paid for overtime worked, instead of receiving TOIL.
See the Individual Flexibility Arrangements sections of this policy.
Other production and support staff salaries
- Weekly
- Other
At minimum, Other production and support staff are paid the Base Award Rate per hour.
Typically, however, OPSS salaries are paid above the Award minimum with remuneration set to include payment for some overtime.
The Offset Payments section applies when calculating salary paid vs hours worked against the Award minimum.
Setting employee salaries
- Weekly
- Touring
- Factory
- Other
The company sets salary ranges for each employment level to ensure fair and equal pay for all employees.
These rates reflect only the base salary and do not consider the full remuneration package, which may include additional negotiated benefits; such as
- Bonuses
- Allowances
- A company vehicle
- Additional Superannuation
- Additional Leave Entitlements
Employees are never paid at a higher salary range until they have met the requisite skills for a higher-level position.
All MPH salaries meet or exceed the Minimum Award Rate for each level.
| Award Classification | MPH Classification | Position held | Salary range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Newby | Induction / Trainee | Base Award Rates |
| Level 2 | MPH Level 2 | Assistant | Base Award Rates |
| Level 3 | MPH Level 3 (trainee) | Trainee Technician | Up to $55,000 |
| Level 4 | MPH Level 3 | Technician | $55,001 – $70,000 |
| Level 5 | MPH Level 2 | Senior Technician; or Coordinator | $ 70,001 – $ 100,000 |
| Level 7 | MPH Level 1 | Supervisor | $ 100,001 – $ 120,000 |
| Technical Manager (“Level 9”) | n/a | Manager | $ 120,001 – $ 164,000 |
| n/a | n/a | Executive | At or above the high-income threshold |
** Part-time employee salaries are pro rata based on the above.
Payment for Overtime
- Weekly
- Touring
- Factory
- Other
All employees are financially compensated within the Award for overtime however, how overtime is accounted for varies by employment classification.
| Employment type | Touring employees | Factory employees | Other production and support staff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly | Touring employees are not paid special rates based on the time of day, hours worked in a given period or paid differently on certain days (Penalties – Public Holidays, Sundays).
Instead, a special overtime and penalty provision (63.6(a)) is added to the hourly rate for all hours worked. Therefore, overtime is calculated at the Base Award Rate plus 17.5%. Hours worked vs Salary paid is tracked and offset payments may apply. |
Weekly Factory TOIL employees (no IFA);
All hours worked over 38h in a week, accrue 1:1 TOIL, paid at the applicable Base Award Rate. Weekly Factory IFA employees; Paid overtime per the signed IFA. |
Hours worked vs Salary paid tracked and offset payments may apply. |
Offset payments
- Weekly
- Touring
- Other
An offset payment is an upward adjustment that may be made to a salaried employees’ wage when comparing their fortnightly earnings and hours worked against the minimum Award entitlements.
If a salaried employee has worked more hours than accounted for in their contract salary during a fortnightly period, an offset payment is made to top up the wages ensuring the Award minimum is always met.
This is monitored using an “offset tracking” spreadsheet which employees are given access to when they are onboarded. Each fortnight the Payroll Officer adds the hours worked into the employee’s spreadsheet to verify what offset adjustments are applicable, and what payments are due, if any.
If an overpayment occurs in one week of the fortnight, it may be offset against an underpayment in the same fortnightly pay period.
Offsets are calculated fortnightly as follows:
- If an employee has been overpaid relative to the Base Award Rate
- The overpayment is not rolled over into the next fortnightly period, nor is the employee expected to pay the company back.
- If an employee has been underpaid relative to the Base Award Rate
- Based on their applicable Base Award Rate, the underpaid amount is paid in full to the employee in the first pay run after the end of the fortnight
Salaried employees are given read-only access to their Offset Calculator but may also request a copy of the unlocked version to review formulas and locked data.
For the purpose of calculating offsets, the following is considered time worked:
- Work hours actually worked
- Tour Day Off
- 7.6h counted
- Does not count toward maximum working times
- Tour Travel Day
- 7.6h counted
- Does not count toward maximum working times
- Tour Travel Hours
- Time counted: 60m before Actual Time of Departure to 30m after arrival (landed) time
- Counts toward maximum working times
- The hours worked of a Minimum Call Time
Example –
Offset calculation for Sam (full-time touring employee)
The Base Award Rate for Sam’s position is $31.19 per hour, so in a 38-hour week Sam would be paid $1,185.22 per week if they were paid the Base Award Rate.
MPH considers Sam to be an expert, so employs him at $44.03 per hour for his position (the “Contract Hourly Rate”), $12.84 per hour above the Base Award Rate. Like all Weekly full-time employees, Sam is contracted to 38 hours a week. What Sam is paid Weekly is said to be his Fixed Wages Paid and is calculated as follows:
(Ordinary Hours) * (Contract Hourly Rate) = (Fixed Wages Paid)
38 hours * $44.03 = $1,673.08
If Sam was instead paid at the Base Award Rate (Minimum Payment Owed), he would be paid:
(Ordinary Hours) * (Base Award Rate) = (Minimum Payment Owed)
38 hours * $31.19 = $1,185.22
This means that Sam is paid $487.86 above the Base Award minimum when working 38h in a week (MPH rate $1673.08 ; Award rate $1,185.22).
Over a busy two-week period, Sam works 111.3 hours (Week 1: 59.67h / Week 2: 51.63h).
From this we can calculate his minimum weekly payment due under the Award:
(Hours actually worked in a week) * (Base Award Rate) = (Minimum weekly payment due)
Week 1: 59.67h * $31.19 = $1,861.11
Week 2: 51.63h * $31.19 = $1,610.34
Now we have calculated the Minimum Payment Owed, we offset any additional hours worked against Fixed Wages Paid:
(Fixed Wages Paid) – (Minimum Payment Owed) = (Offset due)
Week 1: $1,673.08 – $1,861.11 = – $188.03 (underpayment relative to Base Award Rate)
Week 2: $1,673.08 – $1,610.34 = $62.74 (overpayment relative to Base Award Rate)
To calculate Sam’s offsets for the fortnight:
(Week 1 difference) – (Week 2 difference) = (Offset due)
-$188.03 – $62.74 = $125.29
The net result means the company owes Sam $125.29 for the additional work he did over the fortnight.
Making an offset payment ensures Sam is never underpaid relative to the Award.
Consider these further examples for Sam’s subsequent weeks;
| Base Award Rate | Contract Hourly Rate | Hours actually worked in a week | Minimum weekly payment due | Fixed Wages Paid | Overpayment relative to Base Award Rate | Underpayment relative to Base Award Rate | Offset to pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 3 | $31.19 | $44.03 | 38.00h | $1,185.22 | $1,673.08 | $487.86 | $0 | $0 |
| Week 4 | $31.19 | $44.03 | 41.67h | $1,299.68 | $1,673.08 | $373.39 | $0 | $0 |
| Week 5 | $31.19 | $44.03 | 38.25h | $1,193.01 | $1,673.08 | $480.07 | $0 | $0 |
| Week 6 | $31.19 | $44.03 | 73.08h | $2,279.37 | $1,673.08 | $0 | -$606.29 | $126.22 |
- In Week 3, Sam worked a “standard” 38h week and was paid $487.86 above the Base Award Rate.
- In Week 4, Sam worked 3.67h over the 38h requirement, and was paid $373.39 above the Base Award Rate. No offset is owed for the pay period.
- In Week 5, Sam worked 15m over the 38h requirement, and was paid $480.07 above the Base Award Rate.
- In Week 6, Sam worked 35.08h over the required 38h, and would have been underpaid $606.29 relative to the Base Award Rate. The overpayment of $480.07 from Week 5 is applied against the underpayment in Week 6 ($606.29 – $480.07) and $126.22 is made as an Offset Payment.
Individual Flexibility Arrangements
- Weekly
- Factory
An Individual Flexibility Arrangement (IFA) is a written agreement between an employer and employee to change the effect of certain clauses in the Award. What can be varied is covered by Clause 5 of the LPA and IFA cannot be used to reduce or remove an employee’s entitlements; an IFA should result in the employee being better off overall.
An IFA may be offered with an initial Contract of Employment for new employees but can be offered at any stage during an employee’s employment.
Employees are never required to sign an IFA and if an IFA is accepted, it can be cancelled by either party with 13 weeks’ notice.
More information can be found at https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employment-conditions/flexibility-in-the-workplace/individual-flexibility-arrangements.
Weekly Factory employees and IFAs
- Weekly
- Factory
MPH currently uses an IFA to vary clause 63.6(b) of the Live Performance Award for Weekly Factory classified employees.
In this context the IFA provides by agreement that Weekly Factory employees will be paid overtime and penalties as specified in the IFA instead of accruing Time Off In Lieu.
The IFA specifies the applicable rates at either 1.5x or 2.0x the Base Award Rate depending on when the overtime is worked.
The rates in these IFAs are always applied as follows:
1.5x Base Award Rate
- Overtime – Daily (more than 10h, first 2h)
- Overtime – Weekly (more than 38h)
- Penalty – Daily (work on an RDO, first 4h)
2.0x Base Award Rate
- Overtime – Daily (more than 12h)
- Penalty – Daily (work on an RDO, after 4h)
- Penalty – Work on a Public Holiday
Understanding clause 63.6 in the LPA
Clause 63.6 in the Award sets special overtime and penalty provisions for the employees of sound and/or lighting companies and, the provision differs between Touring and Factory employees.
63.6(a) Touring employees
- Weekly
- Touring
The intent of the special overtime and penalty provision is to acknowledge that Touring employees do not typically work “standard” working hours (eg. MON – FRI, 9am to 5pm) and work may be performed any day of the week, at any time of day and that work is frequently performed on Public Holidays.
This provision provides for Touring employees to be paid more per hour for all hours worked to reward them for this flexibility.
63.6(b) Factory employees
- Weekly
- Factory
This clause removes the right for Weekly Factory sound and/or lighting employees to be paid for overtime, instead providing a provision that 1hr of overtime is equal to 1h of time off (at the Base Award Rate).
Many employees prefer to be paid for the overtime they work so MPH gives employees the choice to vary this Clause of the Award using an IFA.
Employees may choose to take 1h of Time Off in Lieu at their contract hourly rate for every 1h of overtime worked or they may choose to sign an IFA and be paid for overtime worked at the rates agreed to in the IFA.