ARTICLE · 20 FEBRUARY 2020

Wage theft risk – Modern award pay changes – Effective 1 March 2020

Kott Gunning

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The FWC has made changes to annualised salary provisions of modern awards from its 4-yearly modern award review process.

AustraliaEmployment and HR

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MODERN AWARD CHANGES

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has made changes to annualised salary provisions of modern awards following its recent 4-yearly modern award review process.

The changes affect 19 modern awards that currently include annualised salary clauses and 3 awards that have not previously included such clauses but will now have new clauses inserted.

The changes apply only to full time employees and take effect from 1 March 2020.

WHAT IS THE RISK?

The underpayment of employees' wages has been topical in Australia, recently with high-profile cases being colloquially referred to in the media as constituting 'wage theft'.

With the FWC modern award changes, employers face the risk of underpaying workers if they fail to implement and comply with the changes to annualised salary arrangements.

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