The Fair Work Ombudsman

REMINDER: From 1 January 2025, minimum pay rates will increase for eligible employees working in the aged care sector.

From 1 January 2025, intentionally underpaying an employee’s wages or entitlements can be a criminal offence. This doesn’t include honest mistakes. A small business employer can’t be referred for criminal prosecution by us if we’re satisfied that they’ve complied with the Voluntary Small Business Wage Compliance Code. You can find the Code, supporting guide and more info on our website: https://lnkd.in/g_yZW2GN

The Aged Care Award allows ordinary hours to be averaged over different periods. That means an employee can be rostered to work more than 38 hours in one week and less in the next, as long as they work an average of 38 ordinary hours per week. This can be arranged in the following ways: - 76 hours across a fortnight - 114 hours across 21 days - 152 hours in a 4-week period. Find out more about ordinary hours in the Aged Care Award and maximum hours per day on our dedicated webpage: https://lnkd.in/gSgt6tVB

Full-time and part-time employees can’t have their usual roster changed to deliberately avoid giving them a paid day off on a public holiday. We’ve got more info about public holidays (including award specific entitlements) here: https://lnkd.in/gMXwizdV

This holiday season the Fair Work Ombudsman and members of the Fast Food, Restaurants and Cafés Reference Group including Australian Industry Group (Ai Group), Australian Hotels Association, Australian Restaurant & Cafe Association, Restaurant & Catering Australia, Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association and United Workers Union want to ensure that all employers and employees understand one simple message: If an employee’s required to be at work, they must be paid for that time.  This means: - If an employee is required to come in before a shift start to get the premises ready – they must be paid. - If an employee is asked to stay back after close to cash up and clean – they must be paid. - If an employee has been asked to come in on a day off for a meeting – they must be paid. You can find everything you need to understand your workplace rights and obligations in the fast food, restaurant and café industries here: https://lnkd.in/diimXVE

End-of-year public holidays are coming, so we’ve compiled all the public holiday dates across the country in one neat table. For info about public holiday pay and entitlements, check our website: https://lnkd.in/gvBYvXin

With the end of year break fast approaching, it’s important to remember employees in non-small businesses can refuse employer or third-party contact outside of working hours in some circumstances. If you haven’t already, we encourage you to discuss out of hours contact with your employees and try to reach an agreement that suits your workplace and their role. A discussion about out of hours contact could include: ⏰ When the employee may be expected to monitor, read or respond to contact 💰 Pay and conditions that may relate to out of hours contact 📞 Preferred out of hours contact channels 👩💼 Who needs to be aware of out of hours contact arrangements 📆 When arrangements should be reviewed We’ve got more tips for discussing out of hours contact and resources to help you understand the right to disconnect here: https://lnkd.in/gUUQFiGp The right to disconnect laws will apply to small businesses from 26 August 2025.

FACT: If an employee’s on paid leave, they get paid for any public holidays that fall during their leave and the public holiday hours aren’t deducted from their leave balance. Avoid a post-holiday headache by checking that your payroll system doesn’t deduct leave hours for public holidays now. More about public holiday rules here: https://lnkd.in/dvibefZQ

Some awards will have new definitions and minimum pay rates for entry-level classifications from 2025. This is after the Fair Work Commission (a different agency to us) made changes to 47 awards as part of its Review of C14 and C13 rates in modern awards. We’ve updated our Pay and Conditions Tool and pay guides with the new rates.  You can find more info and check whether your award is affected here: https://lnkd.in/gTK-PFe9

We’re cracking down on labour hire providers suspected of underpaying and exploiting farm workers. This week we teamed up with The Fair Work Ombudsman and Australian Department of Home Affairs to investigate suspected worker exploitation in the agriculture industry. This was part of Operation Topaz in southeast Queensland.