Awards, wages and wormholes

HOW A.I. TRIED TO FRY MY PAYROLL

I bought Sydney PA Hire in July, and it came fully loaded – equipment, booking system, huge customer base – and two lovely casuals. I set up payroll on my Xero accounting package and jacked up the hourly rate for the operators. That’s what you do when you buy a happy business: put the prices up. Both ways; some of the rental rates were a bit slim.

As a legitimate and compliant business, I bought Worker’s Compensation Insurance too, and made sure my new Public Liability insurer knew that I do some small stage hire along with pipe and drape. They pointed out any contractors need to have their own Public Liability insurance, so that limits the people I can sub in. I rely on payroll – regular casuals paid by the hour.

My casual factory rate is $45 an hour, and production (anything outside the factory) is $50. That compares to the Live Performance Award with a Level 5 casual theatre technician working non-touring must be paid a minimum of $36.25/hr.

The award lays out those levels with skillsets, and I regard my operators as somewhere between Level 4 and 5. Specifically, it works thus:

Level 4. Skilled technician/operator

• Can independently operate standard audio, lighting, or staging systems for productions
• Understands patching, rigging basics, cabling, etc
• May supervise Level 1–3 staff during calls

Level 5. Highly skilled technician

• Operates and maintains complex production systems (large-format consoles, automated lighting, integrated AV systems)
• May be a department head (lighting operator in charge, sound operator in charge)
• Provides guidance and training to junior crew

When I worked for a major venue in 2023 as a sound operator mixing monitors for professional shows, I was Level 7 and paid a glorious $42.00/hr! No-one is here for the money.

At Sydney PA Hire, we specialise in small. Schools, corporate, community, and sporting events are our thing, awards nights with bands less so. But we did one recently, and my operator cranked some hours. Starting 10.00 am at the warehouse, he worked until 1.00 pm, then took a break until 3.00 pm and worked through until 1.00 am. I checked ChatGPT to see what the Award said, and calculated the pay this way:

First 10 hours normal rate, next two at time and a half, then double time. But when it got to midnight, the A.I. said the rate – it was now Saturday morning – was 1.5 and the multiple was again x2. My operator was perfectly happy with the day and the pay! But something didn’t make sense.

I went where you go to for advice: Live Performance Australia. Live Performance Australia (LPA) is the peak body for Australia’s live performance industry. They are a registered employer organisation under the Fair Work (Registered Organisation) Act 2009, which allows them to negotiate industrial agreements on behalf of Members.

Note that word: ‘Members’. Many production suppliers and most venues are members – don’t call LPA unless you ARE a member. I strongly recommend joining if you have any kind of payroll!

“I don’t know why anyone would use ChatGPT to interpret an Award or any other legislative instrument”, said Shay Minster, Director, Workplace Relations.

“In this case the Award is not cited properly by ChatGPT. A quick fact check by looking at the actual Live Performance Award 2020 would reveal that the clause to which you refer is 63.7: Special overtime and penalty provision for all crewing services employees.”

“(It says) ‘For all work between 11.00 pm and 6.00 am, a crewing services employee will receive a 52.5% loading payment instead of overtime and penalty provisions for all purposes of the award’. Also, many awards do not stack loading.” – a claim my A.I. research had made.

“In general, double penalties are not paid”.

For my operator, the effect of this meant they were on double time until 11 pm, and then flipped back to time and a half between 11.00 pm and 1.00 am! I’d already overcalculated the pay, so they were $75 overpaid. Which brings on the next conundrum.

Underpaying award wages could get you into serious penalty pain, including jail for WAGE THEFT! Currently the major supermarkets are facing big fines presumably due to small errors that multiplied across massive workforces. If I’d underpaid my operator I’d fix it next pay cycle. But now I have OVERPAID them, and it was my fault. So I’ll eat that! But, imagine you go a year or two of possibly minor pay scale error, those numbers and the ramifications do stack up.

Paying over award gives an employer a buffer against small errors, and also means crew will actually want to work for you. I don’t know ANYONE prepared to do a Level 5 shift at $36.25 casual – and if they are, they have one eye on the job listings to get out of there.

The current Live Performance Award 2020 (21 July 2025 version) is here: https://awards. fairwork.gov.au/MA000081.html

Note there is also a Pay Calculator that is very handy: https://calculate.fairwork.gov.au/