Amendments to the Fast Food Industry Award to take effect from 28 July 2022

Upon commencement of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Act), the Fair Work Commission (Commission) was directed to undertake a 4-yearly review of all modern awards to ensure that they were meeting the objectives of the awards, respectively. In particular, the Fast Food Industry Award 2010 (Fast Food Award) has been under the microscope in recent months, having been reviewed by the Fair Work Commission and rewritten, making it more concise and user-friendly.

Prior to finalisation, the Commission invited interested parties to make submissions in respect of the proposed amendments to the Fast Food Award. Having considered feedback from several industry bodies, the Commission has now concluded its 4-yearly review and the revised Fast Food Award will be operational from 28 July 2022. While most of the amendments consisted of adjustments to phrasing and terminology, applying plain language principles, the substantial variations are summarised below.

Amendments to ‘Fast Food Industry’ Definition

Under the new Fast Food Award, the fast food industry will be defined as follows:

4.2. In this award, the fast food industry means the industry of taking orders for preparing and selling (by direct provision to the customer and/or by delivery to the customer’s address):

• meals, snacks and/or beverages, which are sold to the public primarily to be consumed away from the point of sale;
• take away foods and beverages packages, sold or served in such a manner as to allow their being taken from the point of sale to be consumed elsewhere should the customer decide; and/or
• food and/or beverages in food courts and/or in shopping centres and/or in retail complexes, excluding coffee shops, cafes, bars, and restaurants providing primarily a sit-down service inside the catering establishment.

The new definition has been introduced by the Commission to clarify that businesses, such as Menulog and UberEats (that market fast food, as well as restaurant meals, prepared by others, and/or engage in the delivery of such items to customers’ addresses), are not covered by the Fast Food Award. The revised definition emphasises that to be covered by the Fast Food Award, a business must be engaged in taking orders for, preparing, and selling fast food.

Removal of Reference to Shift Workers

While it was considered that many fast food establishments operate on a ‘24/7’ model and can facilitate shiftwork, the Commission ultimately held that the Fast Food Award does not currently contain any substantive shiftwork provisions. As such, all references to ‘shift workers’ will be removed to avoid confusion and ambiguity.

Amendments to Annual Leave Loading

The Commission’s primary reason for amending this provision was primarily because the expression “additional payment” rather than the term “loading” in the current Fast Food Award, which could give rise to ambiguity or uncertainty. Accordingly, the Commission held that there should be a reversion to the terminology “loading” to retain consistency with the Act.

Removal of Schedule X

In 2020, the Fair Work Commission added Schedule X – Additional Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Schedule X) to all modern awards in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, providing greater flexibility to employees and employers. These temporary measures included directing employees to take annual leave, unpaid pandemic leave, and annual leave at half pay. Schedule X was only in effect under the Fast Food Award until 30 June 2022 and as such, now ceases to operate and will be removed.

Should you have any questions or concerns about the changes, please do not hesitate to contact us.