ARTICLE
9 June 2025

3.5% minimum wage increase from 1 July 2025

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Avant Law

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Avant Law is a doctor-focused law firm that was originally established for our members in 2009 to provide the highest level of defence and protection in medical indemnity. It is now the largest medico-legal firm in Australia and continues to protect members for medical indemnity and employment issues and provide expert advice to help reduce the risk of a complaint or claim. With our deep understanding of medical practitioners and their practices and to help support doctors across life’s opportunities and challenges, we provide tailored legal services to address their personal, professional and business legal needs. Avant Law is a subsidiary of Avant Mutual (Avant) – Australia’s leading doctor organisation with a proud heritage of protecting the Australian medical professional for 130 years.
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has announced a 3.5% increase to the Australian National Minimum Wage.
Australia Employment and HR

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has announced a 3.5% increase to the Australian National Minimum Wage and all modern award minimum wage rates, effective from 1 July 2025. As a result, the National Minimum Wage will increase from $24.10 to $24.95 per hour, translating to an annual wage increase of approximately $1,679 per year for a full time employee.

Also from 1 July 2025, the superannuation guarantee will increase from 11.5% to 12%.

The FWC will shortly publish determinations varying all modern awards to reflect the new national minimum wage order.

By 1 July 2025, each business will need to:

  • identify the new minimum rates of pay and allowances for all award-covered employees by reviewing the determinations published by the FWC on the 'Awards' page of its website;
  • ensure all award-covered employees are paid no less than the new minimum rate of pay for their classification under the applicable modern award; and
  • if they pay above-award rates of pay and rely on an award annualised wage arrangement or a contractual set-off to absorb minimum monetary benefits under a modern award, review their arrangements to ensure they remain effective taking into account each employee's days and hours of work in each pay period.

From 1 January 2025, the intentional underpayment of wages or entitlements has been a criminal offence, and prosecution can result in financial penalties, prison time, or both. The maximum penalty for a knowing or reckless contravention relating to an underpayment for a business with less than 15 employees is $990,000 per contravention, and for a business with 15 or more employees, $4,950,000 or 3 times the underpayment amount per contravention.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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