Wage increases for junior staff: Key details about the FWC's latest decision

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The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has handed down its decision for the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association’s (SDA) application to vary certain minimum wages for junior employees. In the application, referred to as ‘Adult Age = Adult Wage’ by the SDA, the union body sought increases to junior rates under the General Retail Industry Award 2020 (GRIA), the Fast Food Industry Award 2020 (FFIA), and the Pharmacy Industry Award 2020 (PIA).

On 31 March 2026, the Full Bench decided to vary the rates for adult junior employees to 100% of the full adult minimum wage. With the majority of Australia’s junior workforce employed under one of the affected Awards, it’s set to be one of the most far-reaching decisions affecting employers and employees under the modern awards.

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Key parts of the decision

What’s changed

Employees aged 18 to 20 who have been employed for more than 6 months will be entitled to full adult rates. The increases will be phased in over several years by the Fair Work Commission. These gradual increases are consistent across the GRIA, FFIA, and PIA. The proposed transition period is outlined below:

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^{New rates will be applicable from the first full pay period on or after dates in column 1.}

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What hasn’t changed

Employees under the age of 18 will not have any change to their pay rates as part of this decision. 

Employees aged 18 to 20 who have less than 6 months’ service with their current employer will not have any change to their pay rates as part of this decision. However, once they have reached 6 months, the new rates will be applicable in line with the current rollout phase.

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How did we get here?

Variations to junior pay rates have long been a goal of the SDA - a 2014 decision concerning 20-year-olds under the GRIA was one of their more recent submissions of the kind. While unsuccessful at the time, it was inevitable that applications of this nature would be re-made.

The SDA made their application to the FWC on 6 June 2024. In the submission, they sought to vary the modern award minimum wages for GRIA, FFIA, and PIA by:

(i) deleting the table setting out junior rates entitled ‘Table 5’, included in clause 17.2 of the GRIA;

(ii) deleting the table setting out junior rates entitled ‘Table 4’, included in clause 15.2 of the FFIA; and

(iii) deleting the table setting out junior rates entitled ‘Table 4’, included in clause 11.2 of the PIA.

And replacing each table with the following: 

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Fair Work Commission Submissions

On the 6th of November 2024, the Retail and Fast Food Workers’ Union (RAFFWU) made a submission in support of the application, however furthered the variations so that employees under 18 would also receive 100% of the applicable rate. Youth Law Australia made a further submission in support of the SDA’s application on the 12 of February, 2025.

The first of the submissions in opposition to the application came from the Franchise Council of Australia on the 4th of July, 2025, followed by submissions made by other industry associations on the 11th of July 2025 by:

• Australian Business Industrial and Business NSW
• Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Australian Retailers Association

Master Grocers Australia and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia also made submissions specific to variations to GRIA and PIA, respectively.

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Arguments made in support of the application

Submissions made by the SDA, RAFFWU, and Youth Law Australia aimed to demonstrate that variations to the Awards support the objective of modern awards, objective of the minimum wages, and that there are valid work value reasons for junior staff to be paid at the same rate as adult employees.

More specifically, evidence in the SDA’s submissions sought to prove that “the nature of work [junior workers] perform is appreciably the same as that performed by employees who are over 21 years of age” when employed at the same level. It was also noted that, while some workers over 21 might perform different work to juniors under 21, the reason for this is “more often correlated with the employee’s length of service…as opposed to simply age.”

Other factors the FWC acknowledged in their decision include a junior employee’s position of vulnerability, their greater disadvantage in the labour market, and the personal risks they’d face should they fail to participate in employment, education, or training.

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Arguments made in opposition of the application

Several employer groups provided submissions and evidence in opposition to the SDA’s application, citing the economic and operational limitations affected businesses would experience should the application be successful. 

A common argument throughout the submissions is that junior rates incentivise businesses to engage younger staff over older, more experienced employees that may require less supervision. The FWC also acknowledged that employees under 18 likely had less work value due to “factors relating to maturity, life experience, and opportunity to have obtained work experience”.

In their submission, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia also made several rebuttal statements specific to the role of junior employees under the PIA, such as emotional intelligence when interacting with patients and the likelihood that customers would approach them for assistance.

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What’s next

At the time of writing, the next step for interested parties is to make submissions on the proposed rollout, as noted in the FWC notice of listing. If no changes are made following additional submissions, the next step for businesses will be the first round of rate increases set to apply on 1 December 2026. 

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Could there be an appeal?

While the previous rates will be phased out, the FWC have stated they’re open to submissions from parties related to timing and transitional arrangements for the phased rollout. 

This could mean longer delays between each ‘increase’ date, or even adjustments to the percentage increase at each interval, although this would be very unlikely.

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Will other industries be impacted?

The application was made with specific reference to GRIA, FFIA, and PIA junior rate clauses, and therefore no other modern awards will be impacted by this decision. However, if we’ve learnt anything from recent Fair Work action, decisions of this nature may lead to similar applications in other awards.

Any industries with a significant junior workforce could follow suit, and outside of Fast Food and Retail, Hospitality businesses employ a substantial number of junior staff. Should the hospitality sector be next, staff paid under the Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 (HIGA), Restaurant Industry Award 2020 (RIA), and the Registered and Licensed Clubs Award 2020 (RLCA) would likely be affected. 

Adult rates for junior staff isn’t a foreign concept for hospitality businesses - clauses along the lines of “Junior employees working as liquor service employees must be paid at the adult rate of pay…” appear in the HIGA (clause 13.5), RIA (clause 13.5), and RLCA (clause 13.1). However a widespread application like what will happen in GRIA, FFIA, and PIA is a different story.

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What Retail, Fast Food, and Pharmacy businesses should do now

We’re still several months away from the first increase stage, but if you’re in an affected industry there’s several steps you should take now to prepare:

• Ensure all staff date of birth data is accurate. The higher rates are only applicable for staff aged 18 - 20, so ensure you’ve got alerts set up for when they reach these ages
• Ensure employment start dates are accurate for junior staff. The higher rates are only applicable once they reach 6 months of employment with you, so ensure you’ve got alerts set up for these dates
• Take increases into account when budgeting for wages and forecasting sales. The December 1 increases will be in effect for this year’s Christmas shopping period and every minute of extra labour will quickly add up