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ARTICLE · 07 JUNE 2011

Minimum wages increased from July

Cooper Grace Ward
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Fair Work Australia’s minimum wage panel has announced a 3.4% increase in minimum wages effective from 1 July 2011.

AustraliaEmployment and HR
Belinda Winter
Belinda Winter
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3.4% increase in federal minimum wages

Fair Work Australia's minimum wage panel has announced a 3.4% increase in minimum wages effective from 1 July 2011.

National minimum wage

The national weekly minimum wage for award/agreement free employees will be increased by $19.40 per week to $589.30. This equates to an hourly rate increase from $15 per hour to $15.51 per hour.

Award minimum wages

  • Minimum wages across all modern awards will be increased by 3.4%.
  • Weekly wages will be rounded to the nearest 10 cents.
  • The increase will also apply to transitional instruments including all transitional APCSs, state reference transitional awards and division 2B state enterprise awards.

Casual Loading

  • The standard casual loading in modern awards will remain unchanged.
  • Casual loading for award/agreement free employees will be increased to 22%.

Cooper Grace Ward was named Best Australian Law Firm in the BRW Client Choice Awards 2010 - Revenue < $50m. Joint Best Australian Law Firm in the BRW Client Choice Awards 2009 - Revenue < $50m.
The firm has also been named as the fastest growing law firm in Australia for 2009 by The Australian.

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