Legal Services Award
Covers law firms, barristers' chambers, patent and trade-mark attorney firms, legal aid commissions and in-house legal departments. Community legal centres are EXCLUDED per cl. 4.3. Single industry-wide scope - no sectors, no engagement subtypes, no sub-levels. 7 classifications across 6 levels (Levels 1-5 plus Law Graduate L5 plus Law Clerk L6). Standard rate is Level 5.
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 7 classifications at the July 2025 figures (Law Graduate L5 shares the same rate as Legal L5).
- Junior rates per cl. 15.2 - 45 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90% age bands (the seeder previously claimed 'no juniors' which was wrong).
- Penalty rates including Saturday before noon first 3h at 150% / after 3h at 200%, Sunday non-shiftworker OT at 200%, public holiday non-shiftworker / non-continuous shift at 250%.
- Shift loadings - early morning 110%, afternoon / night 5+ successive shifts at 115%, less than 5 successive at 150% / 200% OT-style, permanent night 130%.
- Allowances per cl. 18: 4-variant meal allowance (cl. 18.2(a)) at $19.93 / $15.89 split by Mon-Fri vs Sat-Sun, uniform allowance ($3.65/wk, cl. 18.3), motor car ($0.98/km), motorcycle ($0.33/km).
Known limitations
No outstanding gaps at this revision - re-verify on the next Fair Work pay-guide release.
Setup & special instructions
- Community legal centres are EXCLUDED from coverage (cl. 4.3) - don't assign their employees to this award.
- There are no apprentices - legal qualifications are degree-based, not apprenticeship-based.
- Span of ordinary hours per cl. 13.1(c)(i) ends at 18:30 (not 19:00).
- Casual minimum engagement is 4 hours (cl. 11.3); part-time minimum is 3 hours (cl. 10.4).
- Law graduates have a 20-day-per-year study-leave configuration - confirm this is enabled for graduates pursuing admission.
- • Legal services
- • Law firms
- • Barristers' chambers
- • Legal aid
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 legal services 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