Industrial and workplace relations law: Exercising the wisdom of Solomon: The Fair Work Commission's penalty rates decision

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) handed down its long awaited and highly anticipated Penalty Rates decision on 23rd February 2017. The main part of the decision was the reduction of penalty rates for employees working on Sundays and public holidays. Employees employed in the hospitality, restaurant, fast food and retail industries will be affected. Employees working in pharmacies will also be impacted by the decision. The decision triggered immediate criticism from the Labor Party. A series of Bills were introduced into the Parliament soon after the decision to legislate against the reduction of penalty rates. However, they are unlikely to come to anything given the Coalition’s majority in the House of Representatives. Although, the government did not express a position during the hearings it appears it is broadly in support of the decision. In this editorial, the main points of the decision are outlined then some comments are made about the backlash since the decision was handed down. I do not propose to take a position about whether penalty rates should be reduced. It is beyond the scope of this short editorial to fully canvass what are clearly complex economic and wider social considerations. Further, it is difficult not to be swayed by the considerable amount of, what appears to me, to be unsubstantiated and partisan opinion regarding the decision, which is circulating in the media and in blogs on the internet.