Part-time commission only real estate employment is set to be phased out following a decision from the Fair Work Commission earlier this month.

The commission ruled to remove the applicability of part-time employment provisions to commission-only salespeople from June 30, meaning all commission-only employment must be full time.

Fair Work's decision follows a lengthy battle with the employer groups such as the Real Estate Employees Federation of South Australia/Northern Territory, which has made several submissions in relation to commission-only employment throughout the past two years.

On 12 November 2018, REEF SA/NT appeared before the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission in Sydney to argue that part-time commission-only employment remain.

In a statement, REEF SA/NT said it had two main objectives.

"We considered it essential that employers should have the opportunity to employ salespeople on a part-time commission-only basis," it said.

"We were determined to seek a variation to the Minimum Income Threshold Amount - That the MITA for the purpose of the annual reviews should be proportioned based on the percentage of part-time hours worked by a part-time commission-only employee."

Part-time commission-only employment was thrown into the spotlight during fair work's four-year review of the Real Estate Award, during which it ruled that part-time commission-only employment was ‘neither useful nor relevant’.

As part of its changes to the Real Estate Award, an employee has to show that over a single 12 month period in the previous 3 years, they were paid an amount (including commission or bonus payments) at least equal to 125% of the minimum award wage.

Any agent who was paid on a commission-only basis prior to April 2, 2018, were required to have their gross income reviewed by April 2, 2019.

If their income falls below the minimum income threshold, they can't continue to be paid as a commission only employee. 

Employers with part-time commission-only employees must now take steps to review the commission-only employment arrangements to ensure that effective 30 June 2019 no employee remains on a part-time commission only employment.

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