TheREIA, on behalf of the state and territory Real Estate Institutes, has made asubmission to the Fair Work Commission to vary the Real EstateIndustry Award 2020 in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to keep as manyreal estate sales people employed as possible.
REIA President Adrian Kelly said currently the Award requires that an agentmakes the Minimum Income Threshold Amount (MITA) of at least $54,500 per annum, for theprevious three years before they can be employed on a commission only basis.
REIA has requested that the Fair Work Commission agree to ahalving of the MITA in the current circumstances to keep as many of theseagents employed as possible,” Mr Kelly said.
If this isnt agreed to, with the certainty ofdecreased sales activity, these agents are at risk of being stood down asagencies struggle to stay open as long as they can.
Feedback REIA has had from its member state andterritory Real Estate Institutes, suggests that these agents would prefer tohave the opportunity to continue to work.
In response to this situation REIA proposes that thecurrent MITA provisions of the Award be changed to 50 per cent of thosecurrently in place for the duration of the coronavirus crisis.
This is an approach that encapsulates the spirit andintent of the governments initiatives of sharing the burden.”
