Award Minimum Wage and National Minimum Wage Increase
From 1 July 2022, minimum Award wages have increased by 4.6%, subject to a minimum increase for adult Award classifications of $40 per week (based on a 38-hour week for a full-time employee).
Junior Award rates that are based on adult minimum wages, will get a proportionate increase.
Links to the new pay guides for the health industry:
- Health Professionals and Support Services Award
- Nurses Award (for medical practitioners employing Nurses)
By way of example, the current minimum Award rate for a support services employee level 1 (e.g. Dental Assistants with no qualification and experience) is $22.67 per hour for permanent employees and $28.34 per hour for casual employees.
From the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2022, you must refer to the current pay guides and increase your employees’ pay rates if you are paying the Award minimum.
If you are paying your employee an above Award rate (either by using ClinLegal’s setting-off clause OR annualised wage arrangements), we suggest you ask your accountant or bookkeeper to review their pay as soon as possible and assess whether it is still sufficient to cover the relevant entitlements. If not, you will need to increase their pay or separately pay applicable allowances etc on top.
From 1 July 2022, the National Minimum Wage will increase by 5.2%. The new National Minimum Wage will be $812.60 per week or $21.38 per hour.
For ClinLegal members, we have updated the links to the pay guides in our contract templates. Please ensure that you check the current minimum Award rates before preparing contracts for your new employees.
Superannuation increase
The applicable super guarantee rate from 1 July 2022 is 10.5%.
From 1 July 2022, employees earning below $450 per month will also be eligible for superannuation. You only need to pay super for workers under 18 years old when they work more than 30 hours in a week.
This Circular is produced for guidance purposes only and is not a substitute for legal advice. Legal advice should be sought for individual circumstances. For tailored advice for your Practice, please contact us at [email protected]