Should The Penalty Be Abolished In Australia

Our parents still remember the days where all the shops were closed on Sundays except the local milk bar. But these times have changed. I’m here today to raise the issue of penalty rates. To put this simply a penalty rate is ‘an increased rate of pay for overtime or for work performed under abnormal conditions’. The real issue is, should penalty rates be abolished? In recent times there has been controversy regarding overtime pay, public holiday pay and Sunday work rates between businesses and employees. As stated in The Fair Work Act 2009, there are some workplace arrangements that affect how penalty rates are paid. These include salary payments, employment contracts and individual flexible agreements. Currently in the hospitality industry,

In 1919, the then Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission stated Sunday penalty rates were compensation for working ''unsociable hours''. In the year 1950, the NSW commission said weekend penalty rates aimed to compensate disturbance of family and social life, religious observance and ''to discourage employers from working employees on weekends''. These laws have recently changes with stakeholders. Only some industries pay penalty rates according to how it affects their business. If turnover is increased, then it is acceptable for them to pay a higher rate than any normal day. Small businesses prefer not to pay staff extra as they are not part of a wealthy company who can afford it. As the population requires hospitality businesses and companies on weekends, just like any ordinary day, turnover is not increased therefore their employees do not receive higher wages or incomes. This leads into retail. Most people visit shopping centres in weekend as they work 5 days a week. These retail stores they visit would therefore have a high increase in sales and then can afford to pay their employees more for weekend

61.1% of Australians considered themselves Christians. With post-war multiculturalism, religious observance declined but has since built itself back up. Although these statistics may not matter, plenty of Christians consider Sabbath Day, Sunday a holy day of rest. The Bible states: ‘Exodus 20:10 – But the seventh day [is] the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates’. This specifies nobody, no matter who they are or what they do, they should not be working. If a company then requires staff on Sundays, penalty rates should be applied without hesitation.
On the other side of the situation, if penalty rates were abolished, what would be achieved? With higher rates of pay profitable activities would be made unprofitable and so businesses reduce output and employment. Employees would lose their spare time, which they may use in various reasons including spending time with their families and doing sport and leisure activities. Employees may not be prepared to give up these occupant activities. Therefore, some people disagree with penalty rates and think it is an unfair