The Fair Work Commission recently completed the Annual Wage Review 2021, and has announced a 2.5% increase to the national minimum wage.
This year, the increases are being implemented in 3 stages.
There are 3 different dates for increases in these 3 stages: 1 July 2021, 1 September 2021 and 1 November 2021.
Most employees are covered by an Award. If you’re not sure which Award applies to your business, please book in for a call to get advice about Awards and pay rates. You may also have a couple of different Awards that apply to employees in your business. Some employees aren’t covered by an Award.
For anyone not covered by an award or an agreement, the new national minimum wage will be $772.60 per week or $20.33 per hour. These are minimum rates for permanent employees and the increase applies from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2021. Casual employees covered by the national minimum wage also get at least a 25% casual loading.
Junior employees covered by the minimum wage get paid a percentage of the minimum wage based on their age.
Most Awards will increase from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2021.
The increase for the General Retail Award will apply from the first full pay period on or after 1 September 2021.
The minimum pay rates for the following Awards will increase from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 November 2021.
- Air Pilots Award
- Airline Ground Staff Award
- Airport Award
- Alpine Resorts Award
- Amusement Award
- Cabin Crew Award
- Dry Cleaning and Laundry Award
- Fitness Award
- Hair and Beauty Award
- Hospitality Award
- Live Performance Award
- Models Award
- Marine Tourism and Charter Vessels Award
- Nursery Award
- Racing Clubs Events Award
- Racing Ground Maintenance Award
- Registered Clubs Award
- Restaurant Award
- Sporting Organisations Award
- Travelling Shows Award
- Wine Award
If you currently pay above the National Minimum Wage or above Modern Award rates of pay, you are not obliged by this decision to increase their rates of pay, but you need to make sure that their rates remain equal to or higher than the applicable Award rates of pay, once the increase is applied.
If you have any Individual Flexibility Agreements, you will need to reassess those agreements to ensure employees remain “better off overall” when compared to the newly increased Modern Award rates.
If you pay any of your employees an annual salary, you will need to conduct an audit of those annualised salaries against the new Award rates and working patterns to ensure the annual salary compensates for award entitlements.
The Fair Work Ombudsman usually update the pay rates on their website in the last couple of days in June.If you need help with checking you are paying your employees correctly, it’s a great time to do a payroll audit. You can book in for a call:
