What you need to know about the minimum wage increase
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The Fair Work Commission announced that the national minimum wage is increasing by 5.75 per cent. Employers may have some confusion about exactly what that means for them.
The increase will take effect from 1 July, seeing the weekly minimum climb to $882.80 per week, or $23.23 an hour. The changes come into effect on or after this date, so if your weekly pay period starts on Monday, the new rates will apply from Monday, 3 July.
According to Fair Work Commission, there will be an announcement regarding how this change will affect the pay rates of each award, with them urging leaders to subscribe to email updates to keep on top of any news.
1 July will also see the Fair Work Ombudsman release a tool that provides resources and information to stay on top of the changes. In the meantime, the “find my award” page on its website provides coverage.
This news coincides with changes to employees’ power within the workplace. Amendments to the Secure Jobs, Better Pay workplace laws came into effect on 6 June, providing updates on:
- Flexible working
- Agreements
- Bargaining
Pay secrecy was one of the bigger changes, meaning employees are no longer legally prohibited from disclosing or talking about their pay to each other.
1 July will see yet another change to workplace legislation, with updates to the paid parental leave scheme coming into effect. The current entitlement of 18 weeks of paid parental leave will be combined with the two weeks provided to dads and partners, allowing parents to claim 20 weeks of paid leave.
Some other major changes, as listed by the Fair Work Ombudsman, are:
- Introducing a $350,000 family income limit for claiming paid parental leave pay
- Expanding the eligibility rules for fathers or partners to claim paid parental leave pay
- Making the whole payment flexible so that eligible employees can claim it in multiple blocks until the child turns two
- Removing the requirement to return to work to be eligible for the entitlement
The aged care sector will also see a boost in pay, with direct care and some senior food services employees in the aged care sector receiving a 15 per cent wage increase from 30 June. Superannuation is seeing changes, too, with the guarantee rate rising from 10.5 per cent to 11 per cent.
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The bare minimum that can be paid to a full-time worker each year is known as minimum wage. For temporary and part-time workers, this is prorated.
Jack Campbell
Jack is the editor at HR Leader.