Dark Day for Retail and Hospo Workers as Fair Work Slash Weekend Penalty Rates

The results are in: Sunday and public holiday penalty rates will be reduced for hospitality and retail staff.

Hospitality workers: Sunday pay rates for full-time and part-time workers will be cut from 175 per cent to 150 per cent of their standard wage. (There's no change for casual staff.)

Retail workers: Sunday wages will be reduced from 200 per cent to 150 per cent for full-time and part-time staff. (It goes down to 175 per cent for casual staff.)

Fast food workers: Sunday pay for some full-time and part-time employees (classed as "level one" workers) will be cut from 150 per cent to 125 per cent. (Casual staff will see their rate of 175 per cent drop to 150 per cent.)

Full update here.

The original story, published as Fair Work Will Decide Today Whether Sunday Penalty Rates Will Be Cut, continues below.

Those who work in retail, hospitality or fast-food industries may be affected by the Fair Work Commission’s decision. It will decide whether Sunday penalty rates should be brought in line with Saturday ones.

If the decision is in favour of cutting rates, it will mean double time on Sundays will be reduced to either time-and-a-half (the same as Saturday) or time-and-three-quarters. For an average staff member working six-hours on a Sunday, these changes could see them shortchanged up to $AU66.

People who rely on #penaltyrates are already societies most desperate, the idea that it's being considered revoked makes me sick

— Emily Rose White (@emilyrose_white) February 22, 2017

For casual employees, particularly young people who study during the week, weekend penalty rates go a long way in helping make ends meet. However, the National Retail Association chief executive Dominique Lamb said the greatest deterrent to employment growth in retail was penalty rates.

excited to find out today whether Sunday penalty rates will be successfully axed by people who have never worked on a weekend in their life

— thomas violence (@thomas_violence) February 22, 2017

In December 2015, the Productivity Commission recommended slashes to Sunday rates. A number of groups have supported the readjustment, including employers and some Coalition ministers of parliament.

Along with the proposed restructuring of weekend penalty rates, the commission made almost 70 recommendations for workplace reform. Some of them included:

• The introduction of measures which will encourage migrants to report exploitation
• Changes to unfair dismissal laws, such as more hurdles to clear before taking it to arbitration
• Commissioning a comprehensive review of apprenticeship and traineeship agreements

hospitality is already the most exploitative and least protected industry. Workers loathe it. Don't make it worse. #penaltyrates

— Philip Evans (@phileevo) February 22, 2017

The union movement and Labor remain strongly opposed to cutting rates. Last month, Labor leader Bill Shorten vowed to introduce legislation to protect penalty rates.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has referred to penalty rates as an accident of history, and expressed he would not be disappointed if the commission did call for a reduction.

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