Working conditions

Professional status
There is no standardised professional status. Arts funding bodies, the Australian Bureau of Statistics employment data and arts industry bodies have definitions of a professional artist - usually determined by factors such as recognition of peers, production of work and time spent at creative occupation.  These definitions differ depending on the organisation and the artform.
There is either a system of labour permits.

Work contracts
Form and content of contracts
a) Written or unwritten contracts: specify what is mandatory, and also what is common practice. Very few contracts are required to be in writing with the exception of those that include an assignment or exclusive licence of copyright.
b) When the contract is an exclusive one, it is generally one relating to copyright ownership.  This means that the licensee is the only person who will be able to make the use of that work and that the creator is ceding all rights to their works.

The Arts Law Centre of Australia is a national community legal centre for the arts that provides specialised legal and business advice.  The Centre has developed a range of model contracts for artists.

Mandatory clauses outline the terms and condition under which a person is hired. Included are the specific role to be undertaken, the type of employment, remuneration and salary packaging. Any conditions relating to breach of contract will also be included in the clauses.

Both short-term (casual) contracts and fixed-term contracts are used.
Contracts can be broken, but a person who breaks a contractual promise may be sued and liable for compensation or loss of earnings. 13 % of artists are casually employed and 73 % are working freelance. The current situation and continuing trend is for short term and insecure working arrangements.

Duration of work
The Workplace Relations Act (1996) determines all employment conditions. This legislation allows individual workplaces to develop specific contracts and agreements. The conditions are not standardised across workplaces.

Health care and safety regulations
General legislation on Occupation Health and Safety (OH&S) obligations exists at both the Federal and the State and Territory level. The statutes impose duties on employers, principals of independent contractors, contractors, employees, owners of workplaces, and manufacturers of plant and material used in workplaces, to conduct their enterprises in a manner which will not create a risk to the health and safety of other persons present or in the vicinity of the workplace.
There are no health regulations specific to artists. However, industry guidelines for events and venues have been developed.
The OH&S regulation requires direct preventative action by employers including risk assessment and regular inspections. All workplaces must have an OH&S committee to enforce regulations. Unions are usually part of the consultation process, and provide training for the committee members.

"Work Cover Australia" administers legislation relevant to workplace safety and compensation.
For information: http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/default.htm

Artists with disabilities
The Disability Discrimination Act (1992) (DDA) and other state based legislation outlines requirements for employment and public access. The legislation applies to artists but there is no particular regime for artists with a disability. There is a national peak body and lobby group for artists with a disability – Disability in the Arts, Disadvantage in the Arts Australia (DADAA). DADAA has developed industry guidelines for arts employment and access issues.

Administrative inspections
Safety audits of workplaces are not generally carried out, unless there has been a reported incident. In compliance with financial regulations and some government grant agreements, independent auditors appointed by companies conduct financial and salary audits.
State governments have work place safety and hygiene inspectors from a range of bodies who carry out the inspections.

SOCIAL WELFARE

a) Salaried artists (those with an employment contract)
Awards set out minimum wages and conditions of employment for specified employees. Awards may be federal or state. Federal awards are made by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) and include:

• minimum rates of pay and allowances;
• overtime, shift penalty and other penalty rates;
• hours of work; and
• leave provisions; eg sick/personal leave, recreation leave.
  Awards may include provisions about specific issues such as superannuation or long service leave.

Criteria enabling salaried employees to enjoy effective social welfare provision
Being an employee of an organisation will entitle you to any provisions that the organisation offers. The level of entitlements is dependent on the length of time that you have been in a workplace, except in the case of Occupational Health and Safety, which is an immediate entitlement.
Provisions are dependent on the status of the worker.

Provision for welfare or benefits during periods of unemployment or inactivity
All workers have access to Medicare, the Australian Government health system.

Employer’s legal obligations (employment statements, wage slips…)
Employers under a federal award or agreement are legally required to keep accurate and complete time and wages records and to issue pay slips to each employee. All time and wages records of each employee must be kept for at least seven years.
A pay slip must be given to an employee within one day of the payment of wages.

Under the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act (1992), employers are required to contribute a minimum level of superannuation support to a superannuation fund for each employee.

Salaried employees on fixed and short-term contracts enjoy the same social welfare cover on a pro-rata basis.

Salaried employees have the same status abroad as in their country of employment.

Additional and/or voluntary insurance
Workers may choose to have additional private medical cover, life insurance and superannuation.
Social welfare is not obligatory.  Around seventy five per cent of professional artists have superannuation.

Social welfare cover for artists with disabilities
All workers with a disability have access to support and disability benefits outlined in the Disability and Discrimination Act (1992). Artists are able to access these benefits. 

The Supported Wage System, which supplements income, covers people who cannot find employment at full award wages due to their disability.

Law or regulations governing these matters:
The Workplace Relations Act, (1996); Superannuation Act (1990); Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation Act (1988); Occupational Health and Safety Act (1991); Privacy Act (1988); Sex Discrimination Act (1984); Racial Discrimination Act (1975); and the Disability and Discrimination Act (1992).

The employer must pay 9% of wages into a superannuating fund. The employer is also responsible for the payment of Workers Compensation Premiums. These are dependent on the size of the organisation, and any history of claims made by the organisation.

Employers must contribute 9% of each employee’s earnings.

Body responsible for collecting contributions
The employing organisation collects contributions, on behalf of the Australian Government.

The Australian Government or state governments are the bodies responsible for paying benefits to artists.

b) Non-salaried workers (those without an employment contract)

Additional insurance
Non-salaried artists can take out personal superannuating, insurance and medical cover.

Non-salaried artists resident abroad have no legal status.

Social contributions (as a percentage of salary or as a fixed sum) for the non-salaried artists
a) What is the total amount of social contributions (as a percentage of salary or as a fixed sum) that the user of services must, where required, pay? Not applicable.
b) What is the total amount of social contributions (as a percentage of salary or as a fixed sum) that the non-salaried artist must pay? Not applicable.
c) What is the scale of the social cover provided for non-salaried artists? If possible, provide a few examples with figures. Not available. Medicare covers non-salaried artists.

The Australian Government is responsible for paying benefits to artists.

The State covers health costs and other social benefits when a non-salaried employee is not covered by an insurance scheme (Medicare).

UNEMPLOYMENT

Statistics on the average duration of total unemployment
Average duration of total unemployment: the average time of unemployment for artists is three months a year. Unemployment trends differ between art forms.  Actors and dancers have the highest proportion of unemployment, but for short periods of time. Visual artists, craft practitioners and community artists are more likely to be unemployed than other artists and will be unemployed for longer.

Unemployment insurance system
There are no special unemployment benefits or allowances for artists under Australia’s social security system. All unemployed people may access unemployment benefits (if certain criteria are met).  The unemployment insurance system does not distinguish between open-ended, fixed-term, casual or government employees.

Payments are rarely made to a self-employed person or non-salaried freelancer. However, financial and other forms of assistance may be available to a self-employed person experiencing particular difficulties. This can affect artists, as 80 % are freelance and registered with an Australian Business Number. Freelance workers can be deemed ineligible for assistance if they are seen to be in a business enterprise and thus not actively looking for work.

Scale and duration of the unemployment benefits
There is no limit to the duration that unemployment benefits may be paid. Additional conditions and training may be required after six months.  The average allowance for a single person with no children is approximately $385 AUD a fortnight.

Conditions of entitlement to unemployment benefits
Conditions of entitlement are that someone is:
• unemployed;
• over 21 years of age and under Age Pension age and registered as unemployed;
• prepared to enter an activity agreement, comply with an existing agreement, or vary an existing agreement; and
• able to satisfy the activity test - this requires the job seeker to be actively looking for paid work, undertaking vocational training or approved voluntary work or participating in a rehabilitation program.

Medical cover is available through Medicare.

Body responsible for collecting contributions (State, a body under State control, trade union, private enterprise, etc.) : The Australian Government.
The Australian Government is also responsible for paying benefits to artists.

REMUNERATION

Artists are paid directly to artists by their employer.

Minimum level of remuneration (by service, by week, by month)
The level of remuneration is based on the award or agreement under which under which the artist was employed. In some cases where there is no award, the Australian Government has federally legislated a minimum rate of pay.

Remuneration and intellectual property rights
Societies for collective rights management
• the Australian Performing Rights Association (APRA) and the Australian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS) manage primary royalties for composers
• author copyrights are usually covered in publisher contracts.  Reproduction and other secondary rights are managed by the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL)
• Viscopy, a collecting society protects rights of visual artists and craft practitioners 
• Screenrights manages secondary rights in audio-visual material
• The Public Lending Right Scheme operated by the Australian Government that collects payments for use of work in public libraries.

Distribution of the rights collected by the collective management society
Membership of a collecting society does not guarantee payment. Artists only receive revenue from a collecting society if use of a particular work is monitored.

Agencies are generally prompt and fair in distribution of payment to artists.

Source: Research Centre of the Australia Council for the Arts, 2004.


Useful links:

• Work Cover Australia (administers legislation relevant to workplace safety and compensation)
• Arts Law Centre (advice and information on all art forms on a wide range of arts related legal matters including insurance and employment)