New financial year means more money for employee drivers and higher registration fees for operators.
Employee truck drivers will begin to receive a pay increase from this week, while trucking owners will need to scrape around for extra cash to cover higher vehicle registration fees.
The start of the new financial year means a 2.5 per cent wage increase for drivers employed under an Award such as the Road Transport and Distribution Award or the Road Transport (Long Distance Operations) Award.
For employees not on an award or an enterprise agreement, the national minimum wage for a full-time adult employee is now $17.29 an hour, or $656.90 a week.
Meanwhile, heavy vehicle registration fees throughout Australia have risen by 0.6 per cent.
The Federal Government has not increased the fuel excise, recently announcing it would stay frozen at 26.14 cents per litre for the 2015-2016 financial year.
The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has reminded employers about the wage increases and says they need to check the rates applicable to their workplace.
“In our experience, a common cause of underpayment of wages is the failure by employers to pass on annual wage increases,” ombudsman Natalie James says.
James says most employers want to do the right thing by their employees and get it right when it comes to workplace laws.
“Our focus is on educating employers about their obligations and assisting them to put processes in place to ensure that any errors we find don’t occur again,” she says.
“Our online tools and resources can assist employers to determine their applicable Modern Award, as well as classification and pay rates, including base pay rates, allowances, overtime and penalty rates.”