Plumbing and Fire Sprinklers Award
Cl. 18.1 unloaded base rates plus the full cl. 21.2 / 21.3 all-purpose allowance set are seeded. Daily-hire and weekly-hire engagements both work, using the same 52/50.4 factor as MA000020 because the cl. 21.3(i) lost-time loading equates to 3.17%. Apprentice rates and the multistorey allowance are still on the to-do list.
Partially built. Core rates and the most-used allowances are in place, but specific clauses or cohorts are still on the to-do list. Read the limitations section before relying on this award for your payroll.
What's built
- All cl. 18.1 unloaded base rates for plumbing and sprinkler classifications.
- Full cl. 21.2 / 21.3 all-purpose allowance set — industry, special-fixed, plumbing-trade, registration, sprinkler-stream and tool allowances.
- Daily-hire and weekly-hire engagements — daily-hire applies the cl. 21.3(i) lost-time loading via the 52/50.4 weekly factor.
- Sector and engagement dimensions on the award so future allowance / loading variations can plug in cleanly.
Known limitations
- Existing employees from the pre-restructure schema (codes like PMS_W_*, PMS_T*_NR, PMS_T*_R) need to be re-pointed to the new PMS_* classifications, with an applicable_allowance_codes whitelist matching their old tier. Bulk migration is pending.
- Apprentice rates (cl. 18.2) are not seeded — pre-2014 and post-2014 cohorts diverge, and trainee apprentices have a separate clause (cl. 18.2(b)(iv–v)). Plumbing apprentices are calculated as a percentage of (Tradesperson L1 base + plumbing trade allowance + tool allowance); sprinkler apprentices use a different base. Both still need extracting.
- First-aid + leading-hand allowance exclusion (cl. 21.4(b)(ii)) is not auto-enforced — both rows can apply simultaneously today. If an employee has the cl. 21.3(h) leading-hand allowance, manually omit FIRST_AID from their allowance whitelist.
- Multistorey allowance (cl. 21.5/21.6) not yet seeded — add when first needed.
Setup & special instructions
- Each plumber needs an allowance code whitelist matching their tier — Worker non-trade gets [INDUSTRY, SPECIAL_FIXED]; Tradesperson Not Registered gets [INDUSTRY, SPECIAL_FIXED, PLUMBING_TRADE, TOOL]; Tradesperson Registered adds REGISTRATION on top; Sprinkler stream variants need additional SPRINKLER_* codes layered on.
- Apprentices currently need a manual rate override until the cl. 18.2 seed lands.
- If an employee is a leading hand, manually exclude the first-aid allowance from their whitelist (the resolver doesn't enforce the cl. 21.4(b)(ii) conflict yet).
- • Plumbing
- • Fire protection
- • Construction
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 plumbing & fire sprinklers 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