The National Minimum Wage Is Set to Increase
When Do Wage Rates Go Up?
The National Minimum Wage increases by 2.6% from 1st July 2013. The new national minimum wages will be $622.20 per week or $16.37 per hour. Fair Work says you can’t get two separate pay rates for the one period. Therefore, if a wage increase applies to an employee on the 1st July then it covers the first full pay period after that date. This increase applies to employees who aren’t covered by an award or agreement and also applies to juniors, trainees, apprentices, employees with a disability and to piece rate. Most employees are covered by a modern award.
What Specific Allowances Do I Need to Know About?
Note that because many allowances are based on a percentage of the base rate, this means some allowances will increase from 1st July also:
“work related allowances (such as leading-hand & industry allowances) in modern awards are a percentage of the ‘standard rate’ in the award. The standard rate is defined in each modern award and is usually the weekly minimum rate of pay for a certain classification. Since the annual wage review increases the standard rate, this will also flow through to any work-related allowances”.
Fair Work Award
Check Fair Work Award Finder if in doubt:
http://www.fairwork.gov.au/awards/award-finder/pages/default.aspx
You can also register for updates from Fair work regarding how the changes apply to a particular award:
http://www.fairwork.gov.au/resources/email-updates/pages/default.aspx
If you are concerned you are not paying the correct wages or need help with your current business systems please contact the SJ Bookkeeping team to help today.