Hiring your first staff as a franchisee: awards, wages and compliance

• The national minimum wage is $26.44 an hour or $1,004.90 a week from 1 July 2026. Most annual wage review changes start from the first full pay period on or after 1 July.
• Super guarantee stays at 12%, but from 1 July 2026 you must pay it for each payday, and it must reach the employee's fund within 7 business days.
• Since 1 January 2025, intentionally underpaying wages or entitlements can be a criminal offence. Honest mistakes aren't included.
• New casual employees must also get the Casual Employment Information Statement when they start.
• Your franchisor can be legally responsible for your underpayments if it has significant influence or control over your business and doesn't take reasonable steps to prevent them.

1. List each role you need, such as retail assistant, cook, cleaner or tutor, and the hours and times it will work.
2. Use the Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay and Conditions Tool, or its pay guides, to find the award and classification for each role.
3. Check junior, apprentice and trainee rates if you will hire young people or trainees, because their minimum rates differ.
4. Note penalty rates for evenings, weekends and public holidays, overtime rules, and allowances such as uniform or laundry allowances.
5. Ask your franchisor which award it believes applies to its outlets, then check it yourself, because as the employer the obligation is yours.
6. Don't advertise below the minimum: job ads can't include pay rates that breach the Fair Work Act or an award.
7. Recheck rates every year. The Fair Work Commission reviews the national minimum wage and award rates annually, and most changes start from the first full pay period on or after 1 July.

The employment type changes your costs, your flexibility and your obligations.

• A casual employee has no firm advance commitment to ongoing work when they start, and is entitled to a casual loading or a specific casual pay rate under an award, agreement or contract.
• Whether there is a firm advance commitment depends on the real substance of the relationship, such as whether you can offer or withhold work and they can accept or reject it. A regular pattern of work alone doesn't make someone permanent.
• Casuals don't get most types of paid leave, notice or redundancy pay. They do get unpaid carer's and compassionate leave, 10 days' paid family and domestic violence leave a year, and a pathway to become permanent.
• Full-time and part-time employees have a firm advance commitment to ongoing work, can usually expect regular hours, get paid leave, and must give or receive notice to end the employment.
• Casual shifts suit uncertain or seasonal demand; part-time suits a predictable roster. Your franchise's trading hours and staffing standards will shape the mix.

1. Give every new employee the Fair Work Information Statement before, or as soon as possible after, they start.
2. Give new casuals the Casual Employment Information Statement at the same time, and employees on a new fixed-term contract the Fixed Term Contract Information Statement.
3. Put the employment type, award classification, pay rate and usual hours in a written offer or contract.
4. Collect the employee's tax and super details, including their choice of super fund.
5. Set them up in payroll software that reports through Single Touch Payroll. From 1 July 2026 you report both qualifying earnings and super liability through STP.
6. Start the employee record on day one: your name and ABN, their name and start date, and whether they are full-time, part-time or casual, and permanent or temporary.

• Pay at least the award rate for every hour worked, including penalty rates, loadings and allowances.
• Give each employee a pay slip within one working day of pay day, even if they are on leave.
• Pay super guarantee of 12% of qualifying earnings for each payday. It must be received by the employee's fund within 7 business days after you pay them, with longer allowed in some cases, such as a new employee.
• Late super attracts the super guarantee charge, which from 1 July 2026 is assessed by the ATO and includes interest that compounds daily.
• Keep employee records for 7 years, in a legible form, in English and readily accessible to a Fair Work Inspector.
• Record the hours worked by casuals and irregular part-time employees who are paid by the time they work.
• If you buy an existing franchise and keep its staff, ask the seller for each transferring employee's records. Under the Fair Work Act the old employer must hand them over.

Under the Fair Work Act's 'responsible franchisor entity' provisions, a franchisor can be held legally responsible for certain workplace breaches by its franchisees.

• A franchisor is a responsible franchisor entity if there is a franchise, your business is substantially or materially associated with the brand's intellectual property, and the franchisor has a significant degree of influence or control over your affairs.
• It can be liable for breaches of the National Employment Standards, awards and agreements, minimum wage orders, payment rules, pay slip and record-keeping rules, and sham contracting.
• Liability applies if it knew, or could reasonably be expected to have known, of the breach, or that a similar breach was likely, and didn't take reasonable steps to prevent it.
• Reasonable steps can include training and support on workplace laws, complaint procedures, and monitoring franchisees' pay and records, so expect payroll audits and reporting requirements.
• In June 2024, the Fair Work Ombudsman reported that the Federal Court had imposed penalties totalling $1.44 million on 85 Degrees Coffee Australia Pty Ltd, the first time it had used these provisions in court.
• Nine workers at eight franchisee-operated outlets in Sydney had been underpaid $32,321 in total in 2019. The franchisees back-paid them in full, and the Fair Work Ombudsman didn't take court action against the franchisees.
• A franchisor held liable can apply to a court to recover from the franchisee the amounts it was ordered to pay the franchisee's employees, though not its penalties.

• Use payroll software that is Single Touch Payroll-enabled and set up for your award's rates, penalty rates and Payday Super.
• Ask whether your franchisor requires particular payroll or rostering software, and what it costs.
• Check the software's award setup yourself for the first few pay runs; software is only as accurate as the classification you choose.
• Use the Fair Work Ombudsman's Voluntary Small Business Wage Compliance Code. If a small business employer, one with fewer than 15 employees, has complied with it, the FWO can't refer an underpayment for criminal prosecution, although civil action can still follow.
• The Code's factors include taking reasonable steps to work out correct pay, keeping up with changes, seeking advice from a reliable source, and fixing any underpayment.
• When unsure, ask the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 13 94, an employer association or a workplace lawyer, and keep a note of the advice.

• Award and classification confirmed for each role, with the rates that apply from 1 July 2026.
• Employment type chosen and written into the offer or contract.
• Fair Work Information Statement given, plus the casual or fixed-term statement where relevant.
• Payroll software set up for Single Touch Payroll and Payday Super.
• Super details collected, with contributions scheduled to reach the fund within 7 business days of each payday.
• Pay slips issued within one working day of each pay day.
• A system for keeping time and wages records for 7 years.
• Your franchisor's workplace compliance requirements, audits and support understood.