The new Work Choices record keeping obligations commenced on 27 March 2007.
Failure to comply with these new obligations may result in civil penalties and back payment claims for employee entitlements. Compliance will be monitored by the Office of Workplace Services (OWS).
Record Keeping and Payslip Checklists Use these simple checklists to assit you in determining whether your business is meeting the new minimum legal requirements.
Payslip Checklist A payslip must be issued in hard copy or electronic form within 1 day of each payment made. Payslips must contain:
1. Employer and employee name
2. Date of payment
3. Period the payslip covers
4. If the employee is paid at an hourly rate - the ordinary hourly rate, the number of hours paid at that rate and the amount of the payment made at that rate
5. If the employee is paid at an annual rate - that rate expressed as an hourly rate
6. Gross and net amounts of the payment
7. Any incentive-based payment, bonus, loading, monetary allowance, penalty rate or other monetary entitlement
8. Details of any and each deduction made from the gross amount
9. The name of the superannuation fund and the amount of the contribution that will be or has been made
Record Keeping Checklist Employer records must be in plain English, in a form that is readily accessible to a workplace inspector and must contain:
1. Employer and employee name and date of commencement of employment
2. Whether the employee is permanent (full-time or part-time), temporary or casual
3. If the employee is eligible to receive overtime:
- the total number of overtime hours worked by the employee for each day or
- the times when the employee started and ceased working overtime hours
4. If the employee works an average of 38 hours per week (instead of a maximum of 38 hours per week) a copy of the written agreement which details how the 38 hours is averaged must be retained
5. Records must contain leave accrual rate, leave taken and leave balances
6. If an employee has elected to forgo an entitlement to an amount of annual leave, a copy of the employees' written election to forgo the leave must be retained
7. Superannuation contribution amounts, the period which contributions cover, date of contributions and name of any fund to which contributions were made
8. Records must indicate whether termination was by consent, by notice or due to serious misconduct.
This article appears courtesy of
Mason Sier Turnbull.
17-Aug-2007