WA nurses and midwives: your agreement and pay, clause by clause.

WAH042 sets annual salaries (cl 17(1)). To convert:

(a) annual to weekly: divide by 52.1666 and round to the nearest 10 cents (cl 18(1));

(b) weekly to hourly: divide by 38 and round to the nearest cent (cl 18(3));

(c) school nurses not required to work school holidays: the weekly rate multiplied by 48.5 and divided by 52.1666 (cl 18(4)).

Salaries are paid fortnightly (cl 19(1)). WAH042 was registered on 19 February 2025, but its first rates run "on and from 12 October 2024" (cl 17(1)).

All figures are annual salaries, exactly as printed in cl 17(1). The last two columns are computed by us from those figures and are not printed in the agreement.

Registered nurses and midwives:

Senior registered nurses and midwives:

Enrolled mental health nurses and enrolled nurses (mothercraft nursing only), from cl 17(1):

Every enrolled mental health nurse pay point and mothercraft year rose by 3.50% on 12 October 2026, and by 13.02% over the three steps (computed).

The three steps were announced as 5%, 4% and 3.5%. The table shows that those figures are the minimum, not the rise every nurse received (computed from cl 17(1)):

(a) 12 October 2024: 5.00% at the bottom of each scale, up to 5.57% at RN/M 1.5;

(b) 12 October 2025: 4.00% to 4.54%;

(c) 12 October 2026: 3.50% to 7.73%. Registered nurses and midwives from Level 1.4 to 2.4 rose by 4.43% to 7.73%, senior nurses and midwives by 3.76% to 3.89%, and enrolled mental health and mothercraft nurses by 3.50%.

Over the three steps, the bottom of each scale rose 13.02% (5% compounded with 4% and 3.5%). "12.5%" is the simple sum of 5, 4 and 3.5, not the compound rise. Mid-scale registered nurses gained 16.38% to 18.71%.

The classification structure is the same as in the 2022 agreement. What changed in 2026 is the gaps between levels. For example, the step from RN/M 1.7 to 1.8 is $2,693 a year from 12 October 2026, against $3,629 a year earlier, while RN/M 2.1 to 2.4 now spans $8,370, against $6,083 a year earlier (computed).

These are computed by us under cl 18(1) and (3) from the 12 October 2026 annual salaries. They are not printed in the agreement.

(a) Registered nurse or midwife Level 1 does general duties where there is access to a higher level of clinical expertise; Level 2 includes clinical, management, research or staff development duties delegated by a senior nurse (cl 17(6)).

(b) Senior registered nurses and midwives are appointed to Levels 1 to 10, by selection or reclassification (cl 17(6)).

(c) Nurse practitioners are classified as senior registered nurses, at a level the employer sets after assessing "the work value associated with the scope of practice of the position", and not below SRN/M Level 3. A dispute about that assessment goes through the dispute procedure but does not stop an appointment (cl 17(7)).

(d) Increments are annual. A nurse averaging 24 hours a week or less needs a further 12 months, but moves up on reaching 1,976 hours if that comes first (cl 17(9)–(10)).

(e) Prior relevant experience counts on appointment, and the employee must prove it (cl 17(11)). A nurse returning after more than five years away starts at Level 1.1 for three months and is then reviewed (cl 17(12)).

(f) An enrolled nurse who graduates as a registered nurse starts at Level 1.1, or 1.2 if previously an advanced skills enrolled nurse, and may be accelerated once to no higher than 1.3. One who was an enrolled nurse in WA Health for at least five years immediately before starts at 1.3. A graduate of the EN pathway program moves to 1.2 after 832 hours (cl 17(13)).

(g) Enrolled mental health nurses progress through six pay points defined by training, experience and skill (cl 17(3)–(5)). The employer may refuse progression only for reasons tied to the pay point definitions, and not "unreasonably nor arbitrarily" (cl 17(4)).

(a) Higher duties are paid for one day or more (cl 23(1)).

(b) A Level 1 nurse or midwife who is the designated shift coordinator for a whole shift is paid at Level 2.1 (cl 23(2)).

(c) A Level 1 nurse in charge of a hospital with no Level 2 on duty is paid the difference between Level 1.8 and Level 2.1 (cl 23(3)).

(a) An overpayment is recovered by a negotiated schedule. Without agreement, the employer may not take more than 10% of net pay in a pay period without the employee's consent (cl 20(6)). A disputed overpayment goes through the dispute procedure (cl 20(7)).

(b) An underpayment is corrected where possible in the next pay period, with a special payment for serious hardship (cl 21).

The Department of Justice – Registered Nurses and Enrolled (Mental Health) Nurses (ANF) Industrial Agreement 2024 (DEP187) covers about 266 employees of the Minister for Corrective Services (cl 4). It was registered on 14 July 2026 (Department of Justice v Australian Nursing Federation Industrial Union of Workers Perth [2026] WAIRC 00509). Its pay table has the same figures as WAH042 for the classifications they share, but each step falls on 13 October, not 12 October (cl 14(1)). For example, RN Level 1.1 is $85,848 from 13 October 2026.

Ordinary hours average 38 a week. They are worked as 40 a week, with two hours a week accruing to up to 12 accrued days off a year in hospitals, or 0.4 of an hour a day towards a twentieth day off (cl 28(2)).

Roster changes by local agreement go through a representative forum, a written proposal and at least four weeks' lead time. Where the employer and a majority of those affected agree, "the Federation will not unreasonably oppose" the change (cl 29(3)). Requests for flexible work, including working from home, "will not be unreasonably refused" (cl 29(6)).

The weekend rates are "in substitution for and not cumulative on" the afternoon and night loadings (cl 26(5)). Community nurses receive these loadings only where an hours agreement is in place and the employer and the union agree which parts apply (cl 26(8)).

Regular on call also earns extra annual leave (cl 33(10)–(14)).

(a) An unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes, with limits on how long you can work without one (cl 32(1)–(5)).

(b) A meal break postponed by more than half an hour is paid at overtime rates until it is taken (cl 32(6)).

(c) Two paid 10-minute refreshment breaks a shift (cl 32(8)).

(a) "Direct employment is the preferred form of engagement" and permanent employment "the preferred mode" (cl 16(1)).

(b) Casuals get a 25% loading and a minimum of two hours (cl 14(1)).

(c) A fixed-term employee with two years in the same or a similar role, without a break of more than two weeks, must be reviewed for permanency, and in most cases appointed permanently if the work no longer fits a listed fixed-term reason (cl 16(4)). Casuals are reviewed at two years in a similar way (cl 16(5)).

(a) Employers: St John of God Health Care Inc and St John of God Outreach Services (cl 2(1)).

(b) Employees: "Caregivers employed in the classifications set out in clause 23 ... and working in Western Australia" (cl 2(1)). Coverage follows the employer and the State, not a named site. Enrolled nurses and assistants in nursing at St John of God are under a separate agreement (see the table below).

(c) The union is covered (cl 2(2); Application by St John of God Health Care Inc [2025] FWCA 2808 at [6]).

(d) Term: approved on 22 August 2025, operating from 29 August 2025, nominal expiry 12 December 2027 (St John of God [2025] FWCA 2808 at [7]). It replaced the 2022 agreement (cl 4).

(e) It is intended to be comprehensive, "to the exclusion of all industrial agreements" (cl 5(1)). It is read with the National Employment Standards, which apply where they give a greater benefit (cl 5(2)). While it applies, the Nurses Award does not, though the agreement adopts the award's workplace delegates' rights clause (cl 55(1)).

(f) St John of God gave one written undertaking, which replaced cl 50(7)(b). It says that nothing in cl 50(7)(a) "will allow a caregiver's redundancy pay entitlement to be lower than the NES redundancy pay entitlement", and that any reduction below that "will be subject to the requirements of section 120 of the Fair Work Act 2009" (undertaking of 14 August 2025, attached to St John of God [2025] FWCA 2808).

The SJOG agreement sets weekly rates, paid from the first full pay period on or after (FFPPOA) each date. Figures exactly as printed in cl 23(4).

Registered nurses and midwives:

Senior registered nurses and nurse practitioners, appointed to a level with no incremental progression:

(cl 23(4), continued)

How the rates work:

(a) Hourly rate is the weekly rate divided by 38; annual salary uses a divisor of 52.167 (cl 23(5)).

(b) Casuals are paid 1/38th of the weekly rate plus a 25% loading (cl 17(1); cl 23(6)).

(c) Senior registered nurses working Monday to Friday have "no fixed hours of duty" and are not paid overtime, on call or shift penalties, except overtime for an additional shift beyond 76 hours or 10 shifts a fortnight (cl 23(4), notes to the SRN table).

(d) Progression is by annual increment on 12 months' continuous service for full-time staff. Part-time and casual staff progress on reaching 1,976 hours but no sooner than 12 months, or at 24 months, whichever is sooner (cl 23(8)).

(e) A Level 1 RN who coordinates the shift for a whole shift is paid at Level 2.1 (cl 31(3)).

The agreement began operating on 29 August 2025, but its first pay column is headed 13 December 2024. Clause 23(2) says the increases "shall be payable 7 days after this Agreement is approved by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) unless an earlier date is defined within the body of the Agreement or from the first full pay period commencing on or after the dates specified in the tables below", and that the payments "are payable to caregivers who are employed by the Employer when the Agreement commences operation" (cl 23(2)). The text does not say in terms whether the 13 December 2024 rates were paid back to that date. Whether back pay was made is not on the public record.

(a) The qualifications allowance is not paid to casuals and is pro rata for part-time staff (cl 24(1)). Only the highest qualification counts, and it must be relevant to the current role (cl 24(3), (5)).

(b) Uniforms are supplied free. There is no laundry allowance: it "has been absorbed into the rates of pay" (cl 32).

(c) Use of your own car on authorised business, including travel when on call, is paid at not less than the ATO rate (cl 33).

Only the highest penalty is paid where more than one applies (cl 30(1)). Permanent staff also accrue two weeks' public holiday leave a year (cl 36(1)–(3)).

(a) "The parties agree that existing flexibility in respect of nurse patient ratios will be maintained." Staffing is set shift by shift between nursing administration and ward management, "taking into account both occupancy and patient acuity" (cl 54(2)).

(b) Staffing levels rest on clinical assessment of patient needs, the environment, safety and regulatory law, professional standards "and reasonable workloads" (cl 54(3)).

(c) Within three months of approval, the employer and the union were to hold a joint education session and produce a joint circular at each hospital on staffing practice and the workload grievance process, then hold the sessions annually (cl 54(4)–(6)).

(d) A Caregiver who believes "an unreasonable and excessive workload is being imposed other than occasionally or infrequently" raises it with the Nurse Manager. If it is not addressed within seven working days, the Caregiver lodges a statement with the Director of Nursing, who must respond within seven working days. If still unresolved, it goes to the dispute procedure (cl 54(7)). Clause 54(7)(d) refers to the procedure "at clause 50"; the dispute procedure is cl 52. Nothing stops a Caregiver going straight to it (cl 54(8)).

Clause 40(11)(a)(vii) pro-rates paid parental leave from 50% at six months' service, while cl 40(11)(a)(i) requires the 12 months' service in cl 40(3). The text does not say how the two fit together (cl 40(11)).

Mandatory training must be done in rostered time, and a Caregiver not given the time can raise it under the dispute procedure (cl 44(5)–(6)).

(a) Major change. The Caregiver is told "as soon as reasonably practicable after the decision has been made", and discussions follow on the effects and how to avoid or reduce them (cl 50(2)–(3)). Once a definite decision is made, St John of God notifies and discusses with "other interested parties, including the Union" (cl 50(4)). Unlike WAH042, the duty starts with a decision, not a proposal.

(b) Rosters and hours. Before changing regular rosters or hours, St John of God must notify, discuss, provide information, invite views including on family and caring responsibilities, and give them "prompt and genuine consideration"; contracted hours change only by agreement (cl 51). A unit-level proposal to vary hours and rosters is also consulted on, with union representation available at any stage (cl 53).

(c) Disputes (cl 52):

The SJOG procedure has no clause requiring work to continue as normal while a dispute runs, and no safety carve-out like WAH042 cl 73(1)(b).

(a) Notice by the employer: 1 week up to 1 year's service, 2 weeks for 1 to 3 years, 3 weeks for 3 to 5 years, 4 weeks over 5 years, plus a week if the Caregiver is over 45 with at least two years' service (cl 9(1)).

(b) Discipline: counselling, formal written warnings, or a first and final warning for a serious matter; for a further matter, a counselling letter, a further warning or termination; and the clause "will not in any way limit the right of the Employer to summarily dismiss a Caregiver for serious misconduct" (cl 56). The clause does not mention a support person or a right to respond. See the discipline and dismissal page.

(c) Redundancy pay for permanent staff rises with service to a maximum of 30 weeks at 15 years (cl 50(5)), subject to the undertaking described above.

St John of God recognises the union's "legitimate interest in representing their members". Accredited workplace representatives get reasonable facilities, paid time off on request subject to operational needs, noticeboards, and at least one paid day a year for union training, with five more in their first year (cl 55). The agreement has no clause on right of entry, payroll deduction of union dues or paid union meetings.