Fair Work Ombudsman
Citation: FWO-2025-07-01-awr-2025-media-release
At a glance
- Penalty
- $948
What happened
The Fair Work Ombudsman has announced a 3.5% increase to the national minimum wage, effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2025. The new rate is $948 per week or $24.95 per hour. Casual employees are entitled to a minimum of $31.19 per hour, including a 25% casual loading. This increase also applies to minimum wage rates within industry and occupational awards. Approximately 20.7% of Australian employees are paid at these minimum wage rates. The Fair Work Ombudsman urges employers to ensure eligible employees receive the increase and provides resources to assist with calculations.
What was decided
The Fair Work Commission announced the 3.5% increase on 3 June 2025. Employers are legally obligated to apply the new minimum wage rates from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2025. The Fair Work Ombudsman encourages employers and employees to use available tools like the Pay Calculator to verify correct pay rates. The Fair Work Ombudsman provides information, assistance, and advice to employers and employees regarding pay and entitlements.
What it means for employers
Employers must immediately apply the 3.5% minimum wage increase to eligible employees from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2025. They should utilise the Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay Calculator and guides to ensure compliance. Employers covered by enterprise agreements need to review their agreements to ensure base pay rates are not below the new minimum wage.
What it means for employees
Employees should be aware of the new minimum wage rate of $948 per week or $24.95 per hour. Casual employees are entitled to $31.19 per hour. Employees can use the Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay Calculator to check their pay rates and seek assistance if needed.
Every statement above is drawn from the published decision. Read the original here:
https://www.fairwork.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/2025-media-releases/july-2025/20250701-awr-2025-media-releaseWant more cases like this?
FairWork Mate tracks Fair Work Ombudsman, Fair Work Commission and Federal Court decisions across Australia. The full dataset, with structured fields for awards cited, industry, penalty amounts and affected employee counts, is available through the Business API. FairWork Mate AI answers plain-English questions grounded on the full corpus.
Individual case summaries on this site are free. API + AI access is a paid product. Contact us for pricing or a 50% off first month.
Get notified on new Fair Work cases
Free email alerts when we publish new underpayment decisions, penalty orders, and workplace law updates.
Free forever. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
This summary was drafted by AI from the published decision and reviewed before publishing. It is general information, not legal advice. For your specific situation, speak to the Fair Work Ombudsman (13 13 94) or a qualified lawyer. About these summaries & corrections →