Funeral Industry Award
Covers the funeral industry - funeral services, coffin manufacturing, removal of deceased human remains and ancillary services. EXCLUDES the cemetery industry (covered by MA000070). 6 classifications (Grades 1-6), single sector, standard rate Grade 5. No junior rates and no apprentice scale.
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 6 cl. 15.1 grades at the July 2025 figures.
- Casual loading 25% with 4-hour minimum engagement (cl. 11.3) - paid 4h even if less work is performed (cl. 11.4).
- PT minimum engagement 3 consecutive hours per shift (cl. 10.5).
- Allowances: stand-by Mon-Fri ($16.03 per period) and Sat / Sun / PH ($34.19 per period), exhumation ($114.32 per body), two leading-hand tiers (3-10 staff at $42.74/wk, 11-19 staff at $64.10/wk), meal-OT, tool (coffin manufacturing), vehicle.
- Hours of work - 38h / week averaged over 4-week cycle; Mon-Fri ordinary; Sat / Sun / PH at penalty rates.
Known limitations
- Casual OT loading-INCLUSIVE (cl 19.1(b)) - resolver must NOT apply 25% casual loading on top of cl 19.1(b) OT rates (FT/PT 150/200 vs Casual 175/225 already includes the 25%).
- Removals (cl 19.4) require runtime detection of removal-work flag + window detection (7pm-midnight vs midnight-7am) - different rate per window. FT-only min 2h applies.
- Shiftworker OT (cl 20.6 / 20.7) excludes cl 20.5 shift penalty - resolver must NOT stack 120%/150% shift loading on top of OT rates.
- Saturday funeral-work alternative (cl 21.1(a)(ii)): runtime selection between standard 150% first 3h / 200% after with min 2h vs alternative min 4h @ 150% per engagement.
- PH SUBSTITUTES cl 20.5 shift penalty for shiftworkers (cl 21.1(c)(ii)) - do NOT stack 120%/150% on top of 200% PH rate.
- Right to disconnect stand-by exception (cl 13A.4) - engine must check cl 17.2(a) stand-by allowance status before allowing employee to refuse contact.
Setup & special instructions
- Coverage EXCLUDES the cemetery industry - that's MA000070. Don't assign funeral employees to MA000070 or vice versa.
- There are NO junior rates and NO apprentice scale - National Training Wage via NES only.
- Stand-by allowance differs by day: Mon-Fri at $16.03 per period vs Sat / Sun / PH at $34.19 per period. Exhumation is a per-body fee.
- Casual loading 25% (cl 11.1(b)) with min 4h per engagement - paid 4h even if less work performed (cl 11.4).
- PT min 3 consecutive hrs per shift (cl 10.5).
- Removals (cl 19.4): 7pm-midnight FT/PT 150% first 3h / 200% after; Casual 175%/225% (loading-inc). Midnight-7am FT/PT 200%; Casual 225%. FT-only min 2h payment (cl 19.4(d)).
- Subsequent removal request after 7pm uses cl 19.4 rate even if original removal started in ord span (cl 19.4(c)).
- Saturday alternative for funeral work: min 4h @ 150% (cl 21.1(a)(ii)) - instead of standard 150% first 3h / 200% after with min 2h.
- Public holiday SUBSTITUTES the cl 20.5 shift penalty for shiftworkers (cl 21.1(c)(ii)) - do not stack 120%/150% on top of 200%.
- Cl 14.1 rest after early morning work: employee engaged 4+ hrs between midnight and 7am entitled to 8 consecutive hrs off duty after finishing work without loss of pay for ord hours during the rest period.
- Right to disconnect (cl 13A) - TWO award-specific exceptions: cl 13A.4 stand-by (must respond if being paid stand-by allowance under cl 17.2(a)); cl 13A.5 recall to work under cl 19.1(c) or 19.4.
- 3 default super funds per cl 18.4 PR794794 ppc 23Jan26: AustralianSuper, Australian Retirement Trust, CareSuper.
- • Funeral industry
- • Funeral services
- • Coffin manufacturing
- • Removal of deceased remains
- • Funeral director
- • Funeral assistant
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 funeral industry 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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