Monday 23 October - Creating Confidence In How People Are Paid
Payroll Update: Award & Agreement Free Wages & Conditions
Most employees are covered by an award or registered agreement, but a few jobs and industries are not. If an employee is not covered by an award or agreement, they are considered to be award and agreement free. HR/your business should advise if an employee is considered Award free.
Award and agreement free employees may have an employment contract. They are also entitled to at least the:
Awards don’t apply to high income employees. A high income employee is an employee who:
Has accepted a written guarantee of annual earnings A guarantee of annual earnings should:
Is guaranteed to earn an annual amount which is more than the high-income threshold. The high-income threshold changes each year from 1 July 2023, it is $167,500.
To calculate an employee’s earnings to see if they meet the threshold, include:
? the employee’s wages
? the agreed value of non-monetary benefits.
When calculating an employee’s earnings to see if they meet the threshold don’t include payments which can’t be calculated in advance such as:
Payroll Update: Changes to overtime and penalty rates in the Professional Employees Award
Overtime
From the first full pay period starting on or after 16 September 2023, employees are entitled to overtime pay for working more than:
An employee’s ordinary hours can be averaged over a period of up to 13 weeks.
An employer can also request or require an employee to work overtime if the additional hours are reasonable. Factors to consider when working out if overtime hours are reasonable include an employee’s salary or position.
Employers also need to pay an employee overtime for any additional call-backs or remote work performed from an electronic device (such as a laptop of phone).
Penalty rates
Employees will also be entitled to be paid penalty rates for working at certain times and on certain days. We have more information about this below. These changes also apply from 16 September 2023.
Payment for overtime
Employees need to be paid their minimum hourly rate for overtime work. If employees work overtime at times that attract penalty rates, they’re entitled to the higher rate.
Employers and employees can also agree to an employee taking time off instead of overtime pay.
Employees who aren’t entitled to overtime and penalty rates
Employees who receive an annual salary that’s more than 25% above their minimum award wage aren’t entitled to overtime or penalty rates.
Record-keeping requirements
Employees
Employees who perform remote work outside of ordinary hours need to keep a timesheet or other record that sets out the time they started and finished the remote work. It also needs to include a description of the work performed.
This record needs to be provided to the employer within a reasonable time after the work is performed.
Employers
Employers need to record any hours worked by an employee that are:
This record keeping requirement doesn’t apply to an employee who is receiving an annual salary that is 25% more than the relevant minimum annual wage.
Payroll Update – annual leave and shutdown rule changes
With Christmas less than 90 days away, employers should be turning their mind to planning and confirming their Christmas/New Year shutdown arrangements.
What is a “shutdown”?
A shutdown, sometimes referred to as a close down, occurs when an employer’s business (or part of the business) temporarily shuts down for a period of time. Shutdowns usually occur during holiday periods such as Christmas/New Year, when there is a decrease in general business activity or at other times when the specific business is not in demand.
As part of the plain language review of modern awards, the Full Bench proposed a draft model clause in relation to annual leave shutdown provisions in modern awards.
Previously, the modern awards contained different rules in relation to providing notice of taking annual leave during a shutdown and whether or not an employer could direct an employee to take annual leave in advance or leave without pay if there is insufficient accrued annual leave.
In May 2023, many modern awards were amended to insert the model clause to replace existing shutdown clauses in 78 awards (with minor amendments to individual awards).
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Shutdown model clause
The model clause, and the new shutdown rules provide that if an employer intends to temporarily shut down all or part of its operation and wants affected employees to take annual leave during that period then:
Employers should refer to the applicable modern award for the specific shutdown provisions.
Importantly the new shutdown rules will require employers to manage annual leave requests during the year to ensure that there is sufficient leave to cover the shutdown period. Otherwise, there must be agreement for an employee to take leave in advance or leave without pay.
Modern award and enterprise agreement-free employees
For employees who are not covered by a modern award or enterprise agreement, the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) will apply.
Section 94(5) of the FW Act provides that an employer can require an employee to take a period of paid annual leave but only if the requirement is reasonable.? “Reasonableness” includes the employer’s enterprise being shut down for a period (for example, between Christmas and New Year).
Under section 94(6) of the FW Act, an employer an employee may agree on when and how paid annual leave may be taken – including taking paid annual leave in advance of accrual.
Information provided in this blog is not legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. Workplace Law does not accept liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on the content of this blog, or from links on this website to any external website. Where applicable, liability is limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.
Author: Athena Koelmeyer Workplace Law
National Payroll Awards - Shortlist
Congratulations to the below finalists in each category, we look forward to announcing the winners at the Australian Payroll Summit in Melbourne on Friday 27th October.
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Payroll: Did you know?
Award Rates
Did you know that some award rates are below the national minimum wage amount, however these are usually only for new entry/training rates and can only be used for a limited period of time
Australian Payroll Training Courses
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Payroll Award Interpretation Rostering Time & Attendance in the one package
1 年We will be this Friday at the APA show in Melbounre showing how we have designed the automation of the Payroll BOOT process in Inzenius. Drop into the Inzenius stand.