General Retail Industry Award Penalty Rate changes
Employers in the retail industry are soon to be impacted by the next phase of increases to the Saturday & evening penalty rates for casual employees. Back in September 2018, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) handed down a decision increasing penalty rates for casual employees working on Saturdays and after 6 pm on weekdays under the General Retail Industry Award. To soften the blow for employers these increases are being phased in gradually.
What are the changes?
Penalty rates for casual employees will increase as follows:
Saturday work
| Date of change | Saturday casual penalty | Total addition to the base rate (Saturday penalty + 25% casual loading) |
| 1 October 2019 |
20% |
45% |
|
1 March 2020 |
25% |
50% |
Evening work (Monday to Friday hours after 6 pm)
| Date of change | Evening work casual penalty (Monday to Friday) | Total addition to the base rate (evening penalty + 25% casual loading) |
|
1 October 2019 |
10% |
35% |
| 1 March 2020 |
15% |
40% |
| 1 October 2020 |
20% |
45% |
|
1 March 2021 |
25% |
50% |
Note: the Saturday penalty increase applies to all hours worked on a Saturday, whilst the evening penalty applies only to hours worked after 6 pm. These changes are only for casual employees. There are no changes to Saturday and evening penalty rates for full-time and part-time staff.
How Employment Innovations can help?
Employers operating in the retail industry must ensure they are paying all casual employees the correct Saturday and evening penalty rates. With the busy Christmas retail season just around the corner, it is vital employers understand their obligations going forward.
If you need assistance in understanding your responsibilities under modern awards please contact Employment Innovations today.
If you are using one of EI’s payroll solutions with in-built Award interpretation, these changes will be automatically applied to your next pay run.