SDA wins increases to casual penalty rates on weeknights and Saturdays

December 11, 2018 News

By Chris Gazenbeek, SDA State Secretary

In September 2018, the SDA won a major case in the Fair Work Commission (FWC) to increase penalty rates for over 350,000 casual retail workers on Saturdays and on weeknights after 6pm.

As a result of this win, casual employees covered by the General Retail Industry Award will now receive penalty rates in addition to their casual loading.

First lodged in 2015, the SDA’s application to lift casual rates in the General Retail Industry Award was part of the Commission’s long-running review of modern awards. The increases to the General Retail Industry Award started from 1

November 2018 and will be phased in incrementally over 3 years (see table below).

The FWC’s decision to approve the proposed penalty rate increases put forward by the SDA brings casual workers in line with the loading permanent employees already receive.

The SDA welcomed the FWC decision as a major win which would result in significant pay increases for hundreds of thousands of retail workers.

This win means that casual workers covered by the Retail Award will receive a casual loading on top of penalty rate loadings for weeknights and Saturdays.

This will result in significant pay increases for over 350,000 hard-working retail employees on the Award and will have important flow-on effects for employees on enterprise bargaining agreements right across Australia’s retail sector.

The win will flow on to SDA-negotiated industry agreements including the Coles Supermarkets Agreement and the Woolworths Supermarkets Agreement when it is approved by the Fair Work Commission.

The increases are listed in the table below:

This win is another example of the SDA getting on with the job of looking after its members.