The Fair Work Commission’s (FWC’s) Expert Panel announced on Friday 19 June 2020 the outcome of its annual review of the national minimum wage (NMW) and minimum wages under the modern awards.
This year, the FWC has increased the NMW by 1.75% (or $13.00 per week). This means that the new NMW will be $753.80 per week or $19.84 per hour. The new NMW will come into effect on 1 July 2020.
The FWC also increased minimum wages in modern awards by 1.75%. Taking into account the varying impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across different industries, the increase will be applied to different awards at different times. The FWC divided the modern awards into three groups with the operative date for the increase as follows:
This means that for the awards in Group 1, minimum wages will increase from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2020. The awards in Group 1 include:
The FWC’s decision with full details of the groups of awards can be found here.
Employers should take the time now to check when the increase to their award’s rate of pay will come into operation and ensure that employees are paid correctly once that increase is applied.
