Pursuant to the 2017 annual wage review ruling which was issued
by the Fair Work Commission this morning:
- minimum rates of pay in Modern Awards will increase by 3.3%;
and
- the national minimum wage will increase to $694.90 per week or
$18.29 per hour (an increase of $22.20 per week to the weekly rate
or 59 cents per hour to the hourly rate).
The increase in minimum wages will take effect from 1 July
2017.
Given the above, employers should review their pay arrangements
and ensure they are prepared for the increase in wages.
In other news, the Fair Work Commission issued a further
decision yesterday in relation to the controversial penalty rates
decision which we discussed in our article
here. The decision released yesterday was to the effect that
the reductions to the Sunday penalty rates in specified Modern
Awards will be phased in gradually over the next four years with
the first set of reductions to begin on 1 July 2017. As a reminder,
the reductions
