Leading employment lawyers are reminding hospitality, fast food, retail and pharmacy workers to ensure they are not short changed this weekend, when penalty rates are slashed.
Sunday and public holiday penalty rates will be reduced from 1 July 2017, following a Fair Work Commission ruling in February this year; a full step backwards for Australian workers.
“The full effect of Sunday penalty rate cuts will not be felt until 2019 for the hospitality and fast food industries and 2020 for retail and pharmacy workers,” Slater and Gordon Principal Employment Lawyer Aron Neilson said adding that workers need to remember the Sunday cuts will not be fully implemented for a number of years.
“The first annual cut this weekend is 5 per cent across all four of those industries, so workers should be going over their pay slips carefully to ensure their wages are not docked unfairly. From there, hospitality and fast food workers will endure a 10 per cent Sunday rate reduction every year, while rates for retail and pharmacy workers will drop 15 per cent annually.”
Whether permanent or casual, workers in the aforementioned industries are advised to check their new penalty rates against the calculation on their pay slip: if they don’t match, the matter should be raised it with the employer, the union, the Fair Work Ombudsman, or a legal advisor.
