Industry groups say minimum wage increase puts more pressure on struggling small businesses
Key industry groups expressed disappointment at the 2024 minimum wage award increase, saying it intensifies pressure on struggling SMEs.
Fair Work Commission increases minimum wage by 3.75%
The Commission will increase the minimum wage for employees and national awards by 3.75%, factoring in continuing challenging economic conditions.
How much should the minimum wage rise? Here’s what industry groups are saying
The Fair Work Commission is set to announce the National Minimum Wage and awards wages next month, to go into effect from July 1. Here's a summary of peak body submissions on minimum wage awards.
ACTU pushes to lock right to disconnect into workplace awards
The peak union body has urged the Fair Work Commission to lock in the right to disconnect after Peter Dutton vowed to wind back workplace reforms.
Budget grants $20.5 million for Fair Work to help SMEs with IR compliance
The federal government has recognised that SMEs may need help complying with its ongoing industrial reform program and has allocated $20.5 million in this year’s budget for that purpose.
Victoria’s $246 million sick leave for casuals trial to end ahead of schedule
A $245.7 million pilot program providing sick leave for Victorian casual workers will end a year ahead of schedule, as businesses wait to hear if they will be asked to foot the bill going forward.
Three ways Aussie businesses can stay ahead of the changing IR laws
The past 18 months have been a whirlwind for Australian businesses, forced to adapt to rapidly evolving IR laws amid unprecedented profitability and talent retention challenges.
Government says it’s already working to improve SME access to Commonwealth contracts
Plans to improve small business access to $70 billion in Commonwealth contracts are well underway, the federal government says, after a hard-hitting review found SMEs are frequently overwhelmed by complex, time-consuming, and costly application processes.
Double the leave and half the pay: Pandemic-era measure could become permanent in Fair Work review
Pandemic-era rules allowing employees to take double the amount of annual leave at half pay could return and become permanent, under a proposal reportedly put to the Fair Work Commission.
Australia’s regulatory super-squad says it wants to be friend, not foe, to SMEs
It felt like something out of a superhero movie, but Australia’s top tax and corporate regulators didn’t meet on Thursday to challenge a global villain or alien threat.
Two in five Australian SMEs admit to payroll errors, as wage theft criminalisation looms
Almost 40% of small Australian businesses admit to making a payroll error in the past two years, data from workplace management platform Rippling shows, exposing the compliance challenges facing local businesses.
Fair Work urges small businesses to stay on top of IR changes with new, easy-read timeline
Small businesses can now access an easy-to-read timeline of upcoming industrial relations reforms, as Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth urges entrepreneurs to acquaint themselves with significant changes to employment rules.
