Higher Education Industry-Academic Staff-Award
Covers academic staff at universities and other tertiary providers - salaried teaching, research and combined teaching / research roles across Levels A-E. Casual academic work is paid per discrete activity (lecture, tutorial, marking, etc.) at duty-specific rates that bake in the prep time and 25% casual loading. Distinctly, the award has no overtime, no shift loadings and no weekend / public-holiday penalties - academics are professional salaried employees.
Fully built. Rates, allowances, penalties and any required apprentice / junior rates are all wired to the rate resolver and have been verified against the consolidated award text and the latest pay guide.
Official Fair Work rates. This award’s minimum pay rates are synced directly from the Fair Work Commission’s Modern Awards Pay Database and updated automatically when the Commission changes them - including the annual wage review - so payroll always uses the current legal minimums without a manual update.
What's built
- All 25 salary points - A.1-A.8, B.1-B.6, C.1-C.6, D.1-D.4 and Level E - at the July 2025 annual rates.
- All 19 cl. 16.4(a) casual academic activity rates - basic / developed / specialised / repeat lectures, tutorials including doctoral variants, musical accompanying, clinical nurse education, marking and other.
- 4 cl. 16.2 clinical loadings - medical-full (43.9% of A.1), medical-para (29.3%), medical-pre (22%) and dental (22%) - flat annual amounts on top of base.
- Doctoral / subject-coordination floor at A.6 (cl. 16.1 fn 2) and the three casual base anchors (B.2 / A.6 / A.2) per cl. 16.4(b).
- 3-day compassionate leave (cl. 21.2 - overrides the NES default of 2) and the 12-month parental-leave parameter.
Known limitations
No outstanding gaps at this revision - re-verify on the next Fair Work pay-guide release.
Setup & special instructions
- There are no penalties, no overtime and no shift loadings in this award. Academics are salaried (cl. 15) - don't expect time-and-half or weekend rates.
- Casual academic rates are duty-typed, not hour-typed. A 'lecture' is one figure that already includes prep time and the 25% casual loading - don't apply a separate loading.
- Casual minimum engagement is 2 hours per occasion, inclusive of the prep time built into the cl. 16.4(a) formulae.
- Hourly-rate formula uses (annual × 6 / 313) / 38, reflecting an academic year of 52.166 weeks rather than 52.
- • Higher education
- • Universities
- • Academic staff
- • Tertiary education
The consolidated award text is the authoritative source. Always confirm specific obligations against the award itself - Mployr's implementation status reflects what we've seeded; it does not replace legal advice.
Want to see this award running on your data?
We can demo a pay run on the higher ed academic award using sample employees in a sandbox tenant - including any of the special-instruction steps above so you can see exactly what your team's day-to-day looks like.
Book a demo