Nurses Award
The most complex classification structure of any audited award - 66 classifications across two sectors (non-aged-care under cl. 15.1 and aged-care under cl. 15.3). Standard rate is Registered Nurse Level 1 Pay Point 1. RN Level 1 has 8 pay points, RN2 / RN3 have 4 each, RN4 has 3 grades and RN5 has 6 grades, plus enrolled-nurse, nursing-assistant, nurse-practitioner and occupational-health-nurse trees.
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 66 classifications across both sectors - nursing assistants, student / pay-point enrolled nurses, RN Levels 1-5 with all pay points and grades, nurse practitioners, occupational health nurses, and the structurally different aged-care section using years-of-service brackets.
- Minimum-entry rates for 4-year-degree and Masters graduates, progressing to RN1 PP4 / PP5.
- Allowances and shift / weekend penalties for RN1-3 and EN classifications.
- Annual leave entitlements: 5 weeks for non-shiftworkers (NES 4 + cl. 22.2(a) extra) and 6 weeks for shiftworkers per cl. 22.2(b).
- AL loading for shiftworkers per cl. 22.5(b) - greater of 17.5% or weekend + shift penalties they would have received.
Known limitations
- RN levels 4 and 5 are exempt from cl. 17 allowances, cl. 19 OT, and cl. 20 shift loadings (cl. 17.1, 19.1(b), 20.2(e)) - confirm payroll doesn't apply those to senior RNs.
- Aged-care section (cl. 15.3) uses years-of-service brackets rather than pay points - make sure employees in that section are tracked by service tenure rather than by pay-point promotion.
Setup & special instructions
- OT substitutes for, NOT cumulates with, shift loadings and weekend penalties (cl. 19.1(c)) - don't stack them.
- RN4 and RN5 employees do not receive allowances, overtime or shift loadings under this award. Their salary covers the work.
- The supervising-EN single tier is from 1 March 2025 (aged-care sector only) - make sure the start date is set correctly.
- • Nursing
- • Aged-care nursing
- • Registered nurses
- • Enrolled nurses
- • Nurse practitioners
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 nurses 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.
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