1 July 2015 – Minimum Wage Increase of 2.5% – FAQs

1 July 2015 – Minimum Wage Increase of 2.5% – FAQs

I pay my employees more than the minimum wage, do I need to check my pay rates?

  • You should check your employees’ minimum wages against the award wages under the relevant modern award to make sure that the amount you’re paying them covers their new entitlements. Allowances, loadings and penalty rates could also increase, so make sure you check these as well.

I have an enterprise agreement, how does this affect me?

The base rate in an enterprise agreeme

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When a resignation is not a resignation

In a very recent case, the communication between an employee and their employer, regarding salary negotiations, ended up in an unfair dismissal claim. See below how the conversation between the two parties, and how their interpretations differed: NOTE FROM EMPLOYEE TO EMPLOYER As we have discussed, I currently add value to this business with my management expertise and unique tattooing capabilities. In addition, I would like to work with you at implementing several ideas and improvements that I have been
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Wage Price Index Update

The Wage Price Index for the March quarter, shows that rates of pay excluding bonuses grew by 2.3% annually in trend terms in the private sector during the year to the end of March. The 2.5% trend increase in the public sector and the 2.3% trend rise across the economy are also the lowest on record. Rates of pay including bonuses grew by 2.4% (unadjusted) in both the public and private sectors.
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OHS – Working from home

Working from home is a common practice, so it is important that employers understand that occupational health and safety (OHS) and workers compensation obligations that apply in the workplace also apply. Creating and maintaining a safe and productive work environment is important wherever work is done and the employer’s responsibilities do not change when employees work from home. You, as an employer is legally required to do all that is reasonably practicable to ensure a safe and healthy workplace – so you should di
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Reminder for Employers – Need to identify & control risks

We have previously spoken about the need to conduct workplace risk assessments as a means of identifying risks within the workplace and then utilizing the hierarchy of controls to mitigate and hopefully eliminate  those risks. The reason for the refresher is a recent case which demonstrates as an employer action can & will be taken against you for breaches of OHS acts. A manager of a company had inspected a work site before a task was undertaken and
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Bakers Delight – Underpayments of wages

More than two dozen apprentice bakers, baker’s assistants and bakery shop assistants – over half of them aged under 21 – have been reimbursed almost $40,000 after the Fair Work Ombudsman found they were being underpaid. The workers were underpaid their minimum hourly rates of pay, casual loadings, weekend and public holiday penalty rates and shift allowances. The individual underpayments ranged from $104 to $3672. Three staff were underpaid by more than $3000, four by more than $2000 and seven by more than $1000. T
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Out of Work Behaviour Deemed Unacceptable

The Fair Work Commission has ruled the dismissal of an employee not unfair for groping a bartender while staying at a hotel which was paid for by his employer. The employer regularly used the hotel for work and the employee had been warned after he had caused damage to a hotel room that any further misconduct which brought the company into disrepute would likely lead to dismissal. Note, the employee was only in the bar  as he was attending a training course due to his current employment with the company. Critically,
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Employee Relations – Termination Compensation Awarded

The Fair Work Commission has awarded a sales assistant nearly $30 000 for being summarily dismissed for alleged theft after it was found that there was no justification for the Company’s "inexcusable" behaviour in sacking her and reporting her to the police.   The managing director had acted appallingly in dismissing the sales assistant – with no solid evidence, just allegations, some missing invoices and downward trending cash sales.   The business was not able to provide the employee, the FWC or Q
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Employee Relations – Wages

The Reserve Banks’ February statement has raised some interesting comments and data from Employers. Interestingly, employers said workers appear willing to trade wage growth for greater job security – a significant development. However  employers, in a tough market have been careful not to offer salary wage increase below the expected inflation rate. The recent Jetset Pay deal is a good counter example. The statement says (in part): "Year-ended wage growth has slowed significantly across all states and territories,
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Bullying & Social Media

There have been some cases recently which looked at when an employee has been considered to be bullying ‘at work’. The context lies is the provisions of Fair Work Act and importantly it must be noted bullying includes what may occur on social media.   For example - bullying on social media can include: (1) abusive comments posted on Facebook. (2) Inappropriate photos of someone on Instagram.   Whilst those 2 examples are not surprising - Fair Work Commission (FWC) critically said it is still bullying. If
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