At the start of the new financial year, employers need to review
their employment framework, including the impact of increases to
minimum wages and proposed changes to modern awards that might
affect your business. These changes are particularly relevant to
Award covered employees, with approximately 2.3 million Australian
employees, or 22.7% of all employees having their wages and other
entitlements set by a modern award.
1. Increases to minimum wage on 1 July 2018
On 1 July 2018, the minimum wage in all modern awards increased
by 3.5%. For any business that has employees covered by a modern
award and are paying at or close to the minimum wage for the
employee's classification under the award, it is important to
increase employee's minimum wages in line with this decision by
the Fair Work Commission (FWC).??For employees who are not covered
by a modern award or enterprise agreement, they must be paid at the
least the national minimum wage, which on 1 July 2018,
