Journalists Published Media Award
Covers employees in the published media industry — newspapers (metro daily, regional daily, country non-daily, suburban), magazines, periodicals, journals, online publications and wire services. One classification scale (Levels 1-13 in 3 bands) shared across all publication types, with sectoral variations for night-shift loading, casual daily-OT threshold, additional annual leave for working PHs, weekend-rate caps and classification ceilings.
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.
What's built
- All 13 levels across three bands at the July 2025 figures (Band 1 L1-L7, Band 2 L8-L10, Band 3 L11-L13). Standard rate is Level 3.
- 6 sectors driving sectoral variations: metro_daily, regional_daily, country_non_daily, suburban, magazine_wire, digital_publication.
- Sector-specific rules: night-shift loading (17.5% metro / suburban / magazine / wire vs 15% regional / country / digital), casual daily-OT threshold (10h metropolitan vs 7.5h other), additional AL for working PHs (13 days metro / wire / regional / suburban / magazine / digital, 10 days country non-daily), weekend-rate cap (Level 8 metro / magazine / wire / regional, Level 3 suburban, Level 6 other).
- Cadet rates (cl. 14.2) — Year 1 60%, Year 2 75%, Year 3 90% of Level 1, stored in apprentice_year_* slots with apprentice_variant='3_year' as a schema reuse.
- Graduate cadet (cl. 11.2) paid at the final-year cadet rate (90%) — captured as configuration `graduate_cadet_paid_at_year=3`.
- Sub-editing allowance 5% of weekly = $62.51, all-purpose.
- TOIL default at single time; paid OT only by mutual agreement (cl. 18.3(a)/(e)).
Known limitations
- Cadets are stored under apprentice_variant='3_year' as a schema reuse — they are NOT technically apprentices.
Setup & special instructions
- Each employee must be assigned a sector — metro_daily, regional_daily, country_non_daily, suburban, magazine_wire or digital_publication — to drive the right night-shift loading and other sector-specific rules.
- Coverage exclusions (cl. 4.5): metro daily editor, editor-in-chief, chief of staff are entirely excluded; positions paid above Level 11 with significant editorial / artistic / managerial control are excluded.
- Parts 3 (Hours of Work) and 5 (Overtime, Shiftwork and Weekend Rates) DO NOT apply to Levels 12 / 13, Level 10 suburban or Level 9 country non-daily (cl. 4.9(a)) — they still get 2 days off per week per cl. 4.9(c).
- Sector classification ceilings (cl. 11.7) — Level 9 country non-daily, Level 10 regional / suburban.
- • Journalism
- • Newspapers
- • Magazines
- • Online publications
- • Wire services
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 journalists 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