Weekend Penalty Rate Increases for Casual Employees continue in 2023

Back in 2021, The Fair Work Commission announced a series of instalment increases to the weekend penalty rates for casual employees under the Hair and Beauty Award. These increases were to occur over a period of 2 years, spanning from January 2022 to December 2023.

As part of this decision, the 4^th instalment of increases occurred on the 31^st of December 2022. Considering this decision was originally announced some time ago; as a brief reminder, we have summarised below the relevant increase dates and figures that you need to be aware of and to ensure you have planned for in your business for 2023.

Saturday Penalty rates 

On the 31^st of December 2022 the Saturday Penalty rate for casual staff increased to 148% (inclusive of the casual loading). Further instalment increases will occur in line with the following schedule, finalising in December of 2023:

Sunday Penalty rates 

Likewise, on the 31^st December 2022, the Sunday penalty rate increased to 215% (inclusive of the casual loading).

Further instalment increases will occur in line with the following schedule, finalising in December of 2023:

In preparation of the increases, the pay guide released by the Fair Work Ombudsman in 2022 reflected the relevant dates and figures for the upcoming increases to occur over the next financial year. For reference, a copy of this can be found HERE

This pay guide outlines the relevant penalties up to June of 2023, to which likely an updated pay guide will be released following any 1 July increases to the minimum wage.

If you need any guidance on these changes or how to apply these to your employees, please reach out to the HR advisory team.