The HR/IR Solutions Guide for Small and Medium Businesses in Wollongong: What Does the Minimum Wage Increase Mean for your Business?
The new minimum wage came into effect July 1, and nearly all minimum wage-employees need to have their pay adjusted. Failure to pay employees correctly will result in back payment of wages and may result in reputational damage, ongoing formal scrutiny by the FWO and a requirement to engage, at your own cost, an expert auditing firm for years. All of the above was required in a case against cosmetics company Lush.
The new minimum wage is fairly simple and can be found by:
- Fair work ‘pay and conditions tool’
- Looking at your employees’ award
- Talking to a professional about the correct award and pay-rate
In general, the new minimum wage is a $40 increase per week. For award employees, this equates to a 4.6% increase.
Employees who are not on minimum wage such as apprentices and junior (under 21) employees will also be affected. This is because their wages are paid as a percentage of the regular minimum wage. Their wages will go up in the same proportion as the minimum wage.
If your employees have an annualised salary which is based on the minimum wage, you must also look into increasing their pay. This is because an annualised salary cannot be below the standards of their award, other registered agreement(s) and the National Employment Standards (NES).
