The Fair Work Commission will apply the second phase of the Work Value pay increases to the Pharmacy Industry Award, effective from the first pay period on or after 1 October 2019.
In July, the Fair Work Commission ruled to provide a 5% increase in pharmacist pay and a further 10% for those undertaking HMRs and RMMRs in our Work Value case.
The first Work Value Case increase (2.5%) applied from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2019.
The new applicable rates of pay are:
The minimum penalty rates, casual loadings and other entitlements received should also increase as they are required to be calculated on the new minimum award rates
New HMR/RMMR allowance
A new allowance for pharmacists who perform Home Medicine Reviews (HMR) or Residential Medication Management Reviews (RMMR) will also be introduced from the first full pay period on or after 1 October.
The new clause 19.1 requires employers to pay any pharmacist who performs HMRs or RMMRs an additional allowance of $106.40 per week (pro rata for part time). The new clause reads as follows:
19.1 Home Medicine Reviews and Residential Medication Management Reviews An employee classified as a Pharmacist, Experienced Pharmacist, Pharmacist in Charge or Pharmacist Manager who is required by the employer to perform Home Medicine Reviews or Residential Medication Management Reviews shall be paid an additional allowance of $106.40 per week.
The Commission recently confirmed that if a pharmacist is required to perform HMRs and RMMRs, they must be paid the additional allowance of $106.40 every week (pro rata for part time pharmacists). This is because the Commission sees this increase as an allowance for having a higher qualification that is utilised as part of a pharmacist’s work.
PPA would like to remind pharmacists that employers are legally required to pay pharmacists these new rates of pay as a minimum.
They can pay more but not less. They’re also required to use these new rates to calculate your allowances and penalty entitlements.
The fight to increase pay continues
PPA is pleased to announce that, as a result of submissions made by PPA, the President of the Fair Work Commission has announced a major new case to review graduate rates of pay in all awards.
This review came about as a result of PPA pointing out that the graduate pharmacist rate is currently only 105.5% of the rate of pay a trades-person gets when they first qualify, and that this is a complete outrage. We pointed out in previous submissions that the Fair Work Commission has previously determined that the 4-year graduate rate should be 130% of the trades-person rate, and that this relativity should be maintained.
This new major case will involve a large number of awards that include graduate rates of pay for teachers, nurses, engineers, doctors, and many more.
PPA and Professionals Australia will be arguing for further increases to ensure that jobs that require employees to be the holders of graduate qualifications are appropriately remunerated for their skill and responsibility.