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.
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 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