Is your business and your employees covered by the Real Estate Industry Award 2020 [MA000106]?
Since 1 March 2024, there have been some changes to the Real Estate Industry Award 2020 that have helped clarify when employees are to be paid for excessive travel time. This change can be seen at clause 17.11 of the current version of the Award.
The changes clarify the following for those covered by this Award:
- If an employee is required to start or finish work at a location that is away from the employers business/office premises, the employee must be paid for the time reasonably spent traveling that is in excess of the time they normally spend traveling to or from their employer’s usual place of business and the employee’s usual residence.Example – Danny works for Houses Galore as a Real Estate Agent. In the morning it usually takes Danny 20 minutes to get from his home in North Brisbane to the business’s office in Brisbane City.Today Danny has to travel to the Gold Coast to meet a client. It is going to take Danny one hour to travel to the client’s location. This means there is 40 minutes excess travel time for Danny, compared to his normal travel time to House Galore’s office.
- The excess time spent traveling needs to be treated as time worked which would either be paid at ordinary rates or overtime (where applicable).
- If the employee is travelling in their own vehicle, then they will also be due the applicable motor vehicle allowance.
How can Business Chamber Queensland help?
Business Chamber Queensland members with HR services* as part of their membership can contact the Workplace Advisory Services team:
P: 1300 731 988
A consultancy fee will apply for businesses who do not have a HR membership
For membership enquiries, please contact our membership team on 1300 731 988.
* HR services are included in Business Essentials and Business Evolve memberships
