Per Capita welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates) Bill 2025 (the Bill). The Bill aims to ensure that penalty and overtime rates in modern awards are not reduced, and that awards do not contain terms that substitute entitlements to receive penalty or overtime rates where those terms would have the effect of reducing that additional remuneration employees would otherwise receive.
Per Capita supports these aims. This amendment to the Fair Work Act as an important step in ensuring these entitlements remain a secure part of the modern award safety net that millions of Australians rely on.
From the earliest days of Australia’s industrial relations system, it has been understood that decent work is about more than what occurs in the workplace. It is about protecting the time workers need for rest, family and community life. When work takes up that time, it should be fairly compensated. This principle has long been part of our workplace laws, but recent changes to modern awards have shown that penalty and overtime entitlements can be reduced. This Bill is an important safeguard to prevent that from happening again.
Per Capita supports its swift passage and notes the value of ensuring any potential unintended consequences are addressed in the drafting.