Clerks Award Quick Reference

Why this award matters more than you think

The Clerks — Private Sector Award 2020 covers clerical and administrative employees across private-sector businesses that aren't covered by an industry award for that work — reception, accounts, payroll officers, executive assistants, data entry, general admin. Because it's occupation-based rather than industry-based, it reaches into almost every SME: a construction company's site crew might be on the construction award while the office manager sits under Clerks. Many employers simply don't realise their admin staff are award-covered at all, which is how "we pay above award so we're fine" problems start — the award governs more than the base rate.

Treat this page as a map of the award, not advice about a particular employee; the current award text and the Fair Work Ombudsman carry the authoritative detail.

Classification levels

The award classifies clerical employees into graded levels, from entry-level routine tasks up to senior employees exercising significant judgement and supervising others, with a call-centre stream for that work. In practice:

• Lower levels — routine, closely supervised clerical work.
• Middle levels — competent operators working with limited supervision: most experienced admin and accounts staff land here.
• Upper levels — specialised or supervisory roles with real autonomy, such as an office manager running functions independently.

The classic error is leaving a long-serving administrator at a junior level while their duties have grown into a senior classification. Review classification whenever a role expands.

Hours, overtime and flexibility

The award sets a span of ordinary hours; work outside the span or beyond ordinary hours attracts overtime or penalty rates. It also contains specific provisions dealing with working from home and flexible arrangements, which became more prominent after the pandemic-era variations — worth reading if your admin team is hybrid. Time off in lieu is available but must follow the award's agreement and record-keeping requirements, not a handshake.

Penalties, loadings and allowances

Expect casual loading for casuals, penalties for weekend and shift work where it occurs, and overtime rates as set in the current award. Allowances are lighter than in trade awards but still exist — higher duties, meal allowances on overtime, and vehicle allowances when staff use their own car for work errands. Current dollar figures and percentages belong to the Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay and Conditions Tool, not to memory.

Annualised salaries and set-off clauses

Office staff are commonly salaried, and the award permits annualised wage arrangements — but with conditions: you need to know which award entitlements the salary is compensating, keep adequate records of hours, and reconcile so the salary genuinely covers what the award would have paid. A well-drafted contractual set-off clause helps, but neither approach makes the award disappear. This is the single most litigated misunderstanding for white-collar SME employers.

Quick compliance checklist

• Identify every employee doing principally clerical work and confirm award coverage.
• Classify each against the current level definitions, in writing.
• Reconcile salaries against award entitlements at least annually and after the wage review.
• Capture hours even for salaried staff — you can't reconcile what you didn't record.

If the person who'd normally run these checks is you, that's worth fixing at the system level — see our people services and the owner absence test.