Emma Watt Workplace Untangler

Allowances in modern awards ... what is the 'standard rate'?

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 05:18:00 GMT

One of the features of modern awards that is a departure from tradition is the method of setting allowances. In the past, allowances have generally been expressed in dollar terms in each award, making it easy to work out what to pay just by looking at the relevant clause.

A problem with the old system was that each year when awards were varied to increase wages, dozens of other small variations had to be made to awards to ensure allowances kept pace with wages - and of course, that's just begging for mistakes to be made, and enormous amounts of time were then spent applying to the tribunal for variations, or correction orders.

Modern awards, however, have taken a different approach. Expense-related allowances are still expressed in dollar terms in each award, for example, each award that provides a motor vehicle allowance expresses the allowance as 74 cents per kilometre. For all other allowances, the rate is expressed as a percentage of the 'standard rate'.

In the Timber Industry Award 2010:

A leading hand supervising two to six employees will be paid 3.3% of the standard rate and for more than six employees 5.1% of the standard rate in addition to their ordinary rate of pay.

In order to determine what that means in dollar terms, i.e. what an employer actually has to pay a leading hand per week, first we must turn to the definitions in the award. We then find that:

standard rate means the minimum weekly wage for a Level 5 in Clause 17 - Minimum wages

From the first pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2011, the minimum weekly wage for a Level 5 in this award is $686.20. That means that a leading hand supervising 2-6 employees is entitled to an extra 3.3% of $686.20, or $22.64 per week, while a leading hand supervising more than 6 employees gets 5.1% of $686.20, or $35.00 per week on top of his or her wages.

Anyone working out allowances must ensure they actually check the definition of 'standard rate' in the relevant modern award when working out allowances. Not all 'standard rates' are created equal - some are more equal than others ... sorry, off the track there!

In the Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award 2010, the definition is:

standard rate means the minimum hourly wage prescribed for the C10 level in clause 24.1(a)

The minimum hourly wage for C10 is $18.06. Therefore, under this award, a leading hand in charge of 3-10 employees must be paid 166.3% of $18.06, or $30.03 each week.

Too easy ... right?

Disclaimers, lawyers, wage rates and getting things wrong

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 01:59:00 GMT

I have a disclaimer that I put on quite a lot of the documents I publish or send out to people. Something along the lines of 'I really tried to make sure this was right, but if it's wrong, don't look at me'.

And I do really try to make sure that what I put out is right - the last three weeks, in the leadup to the increase in minimum wage rates on 1 July, have been hell on earth as I have buried myself up to the eyebrows in spreadsheets, calculators, awards & even the odd 'work it out on a bit of paper' checking. I have worked myself into a little puddle of twitch trying to get correct wage rates out to everyone who needs them.

And boy, do people need them at the moment - here's a sample transitional calculation for wage rates from 1 July 2011:

The rate of pay for the work in the premodern award was $15 at 31 December 2009
The rate of pay for the work in the modern award was $16 at 1 January 2010
The transitional amount is ($16 - $15) = $1 - that's the amount the wage rate will rise by 1 July 2014, on top of minimum wage increases
The increase in the minimum rates for 1 July 2010 was $26/week, or $0.69 per hour
The increase in the minimum rates for 1 July 2011 was 3.4%
The current minimum enforceable wage rate is

($16 + $0.69)*1.034 - (($16 - $15)*0.6) = $16.65

And you won't find that figure on any official wage rate documentation - the employer has to work it out, or pay an employer association to work it out for them. That's where I come in - working out wage rates for people.

I have been working out wage rates to transition from around 25 premodern awards into half a dozen modern awards, both for constitutional corporations in every State and Territory in Australia, and for sole traders and partnerships operating in NSW, Tasmania and South Australia. Western Australia still has a State industrial relations system for their sole traders and partnerships. Multiple spreadsheets, multiple worksheets within spreadsheets, many many opportunities to have a brain fart and lose track of something.

Along the way I made a few errors - human, I know, but embarassing nonetheless. I fixed them, we move on. Which brings me to a disclaimer I read on an article written by Marque Lawyers, a law firm in Sydney that publishes on www.mondaq.com. Their dislcaimer read:

We do not disclaim anything about this article. We're quite proud of it really.

Way to go! That's a fabulous thing to write at the end of an article that was, really, a write-up of a case. No one in their right mind could see it as legal advice, so the lawyers took the atittude that a standard legal disclaimer wasn't necessary. And it made me laugh.

I have decided that in my next life, I want to be a truck driver. Or a cabinetmaker. Or just about anything that doesn't entail burying myself in spreadsheets.

If you are an employer who is confused by wage rates and you'd like me to work out wage rates for you, I am happy to do it, just not this week. This week is spreadsheet detox. Call me about the middle of July, please!

Modern awards, wage rates and transitional arrangements

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 05:49:00 GMT

Minimum wages in modern awards will increase by 3.4% from the first pay period commencing on or after 1 July 2011. That means that minimum wages paid under modern awards will change from the full pay period that falls completely in July. Employers are not required to split a pay period and use two different sets of rates to calculate wages for one pay period.

This does not necessarily mean that enforceable wage rates will go up though. When modern awards were created, there were thousands of pre-modern awards (federal awards, Notional Agreements Preserving State Awards) that were collapsed down into 123 modern awards. Some of those pre-modern awards had wage rates, penalties and loadings that far exceed the modern award entitlements - and those reductions will be phased in over five years.

Important note: The modern award that applies to the work being done will not necessarily specify the enforceable wage rates, penalties and loadings!

For example, under the pre-modern NAPSA for casual drivers in South Australia, the penalty rate for working on Good Friday was 368% of the ordinary time rate of pay, while under many modern awards, the penalty rate is 275%. The difference between the two penalties is 93%, and therefore each year, the penalty rate for a casual driver in South Australia will reduce by 18.6%. This year, that may mean that the hourly rate of pay for a casual driver working on Good Friday in South Australia is actually LESS than the hourly rate of pay for the same work last year, despite the fact that there's been an increase in rates of 3.4%.

Or there's another example, which probably won't show up so blatantly in hourly wage rates, but nonetheless has an effect on wage rates. Casual clerical employees in Victoria were effectively entitled to 33.6% casual loading prior to 1 January 2010, whereas after 1 January 2010, the casual loading was 25%. So for the 2010/11 year, the enforceable casual loading for a clerical employee in Victoria was 31.6%, and for 2011/12 it's 30%, even though the award says 25%.

The moral of the story ... don't just look at the relevant modern award when you're working out wage rates, make sure you identify the relevant pre-modern award and do the transitional calculations to check you've got the enforceable wage rate.

Is personal/carer's leave cumulative?

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:54:00 GMT

I sometimes have employers asking me if sick leave is cumulative. Sick leave has now been replaced by personal/carer's leave, which encompasses situations where the employee is personally ill or injured, or needs to take time off to care for a member of his or her immediate family.

Under the National Employment Standards, full time employees are entitled to ten days of paid personal/carer's leave each year. Personal/carer's leave also covers compassionate leave, which allows an employee to take up to two days of paid leave on each occasion that a member of his or her immediate family contracts a life threatening illness, sustains a life threatening injury, or dies. Part time employees are entitled to pro rata leave, and casual employees are entitled to some unpaid carer's and compassionate leave. This article relates to the ten days of personal/carer's leave rather than compassionate leave.

Under the pre-modern award system, some awards restricted accumulation of sick leave - either by requiring the employer to pay out some untaken leave, or by truncating the amount of leave an employee could accumulate. For example, the old Furnishing Industry National Award 2003 restricted accumulation of sick leave to 768 hours - any time accrued beyond that figure simply disappeared, and the employee could not access the leave.

However, with the introduction of WorkChoices by the Howard government, and subsequently Forward with Fairness by the Rudd government, personal/carer's leave became a minimum entitlement afforded to employees by legislation rather than by an award. Neither the Australian Fair Pay & Conditions Standards (under WorkChoices), nor the current National Employment Standards, allowed for accumulation of personal/carer's leave to be truncated in the manner described above.

Section 96(2) of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) states that:

"An employee's entitlement to paid personal/carer's leave accrues progressively during a year of service according to the employee's ordinary hours of work, and accumulates from year to year." (emphasis mine)

So there's the answer ... a full time employee's ten days of personal/carer's leave per year accumulates indefinitely if the employee does not take the leave.

Paying out untaken personal/carer's leave ... well that's a topic for another article!

If you have any queries about personal/carer's leave, please contact Emma Watt on (03) 8822 3712 or 0411 708 073, or by email on emma@emmawatt.com.au. You should also check the specific provisions of the modern award or enterprise agreement that applies in your workplace.

Workplace bullying now a criminal offence in Victoria

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 02:18:00 GMT

The Victorian Parliament last week passed Brodie's Law, which amended the Crimes Act to make workplace and cyber bullying criminal offences. Anyone in Victoria convicted under the Crimes Act of workplace bullying now faces up to ten years in prison.

The law came about as a result of the suicide of Brodie Panlock, who killed herself in 2006 because of extreme bullying by three of her workmates.

Employers would be aware of the need to be vigilant about bullying in the workplace. This starts with a clear statement that bullying behaviour is not tolerated. Bullying is repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed towards an employee or a group of employees, that creates a risk to health and safety.

It is also incumbent on employers to keep an eye on behaviour between employees, and to step in if behaviour is unreasonable, even if the person who is the 'target' of the bullying has not complained. Policies and procedures should also clearly set out how an employee makes a complaint, and what will happen once a complaint has been made.

For more information, contact Emma Watt on (03) 8822 3712 or by email on emma@emmawatt.com.au.

Minimum wages to increase by 3.4 per cent from 1 July 2011

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:35:00 GMT

Today a Full Bench of Fair Work Australia issued the 2011 Minimum Wages decision. From 1 July 2011, minimum wage rates in modern awards will rise by 3.4%, with weekly wages to be rounded to the nearest 10 cents.

The new national minimum wage for adult award/agreement free employees will be $15.51 per hour.

Junior employees, apprentices and trainees will get proportionate increases based on wage schedules in the relevant modern award.

However, this does not necessarily mean that all employees will get a pay rise. If the employee is covered by an award, and their rate of pay is already in excess of the minimum enforceable wage rate, then the employee is not automatically entitled to a pay rise. If you have agreed with the employee that you will pass on minimum wage increases regardless of the employee's entitlement, then you may have a contractual obligation to do so.

Any employee who is covered by an enterprise agreement will not be entitled to an increase in minimum wages unless the agreeement specifies that this is to happen.

Please also bear in mind that the transitional provisions that operate in most modern awards may mean that the minimum enforceable rate of pay is not the rate specified in the modern award itself. This is particularly the case for clerical and retail awards. For more information on how to calculate transitional minimum rates of pay check Schedule A of the relevant modern award, or speak to Emma.

For further information, please call Emma on (03) 8822 3712 or 0411 708 073, or email her on emma@emmawatt.com.au.

Hungry Jack’s fined for underpaying almost 700 staff over $665,000

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 23:59:00 GMT

Fast food retailer Hungry Jack’s Pty Ltd has been fined $100,500 after underpaying almost 700 of its Tasmanian employees hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The penalty, the result of a prosecution by the Fair Work Ombudsman, was handed down in the Federal Magistrates Court in Melbourne late yesterday.

Federal Magistrate Philip Burchardt imposed the penalty after Hungry Jack’s admitted underpaying 693 of its Tasmanian employees a total of $665,695 between March, 2006 and August, 2008.

Hungry Jack’s also admitted further breaching workplace laws by failing to keep proper employment records.

In his judgment, Federal Magistrate Burchardt described the conduct of Hungry Jack’s as “contravention on a major scale”, saying the total underpayment was “enormous”.

“More than 30 employees were underpaid more than $4000 each and the highest individual underpayment was over $10,000,” he said.

“These underpayments have all been rectified but the fact is that the relevant employees were denied the sums that they were lawfully due at the time they were actually working.

“It is not unreasonable to suppose that employees in this industry, where wages are scarcely munificent, may have been significantly disadvantaged.”

Fair Work Ombudsman Executive Director Michael Campbell says the scale of the underpayment of many young workers was a key reason the Fair Work Ombudsman decided to prosecute.

“This penalty sends a clear message that the underpayment of young and vulnerable workers will not be tolerated,” Mr Campbell said.

“We expect large corporations to exercise their workplace responsibilities, particularly when they employ large numbers of vulnerable workers who are unlikely to know or exercise their workplace rights.”

The underpaid employees worked at six Hungry Jack’s owned-and-operated stores in Devonport, Glenorchy, Hobart, South Hobart, Launceston and Mowbray.

Hungry Jack’s paid the employees according to rates contained in an agreement it made with the Shop, Distributive & Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) - but the agreement was never officially registered with or certified by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.

The employees should therefore have been paid according to rates contained in the relevant Tasmanian awards relating to their positions, such as the Restaurant Keepers Award and National Training Wage (Tasmanian Private Sector) Award.

Hungry Jack’s failure to register the agreement resulted in it underpaying its employees’ minimum hourly rates, penalty rates for weekend, public holiday and overtime work, annual leave entitlements, minimum engagement pay and casual loadings.

The underpaid employees included full time, part-time and casual workers. Most were young, including more than 70 trainees.

Federal Magistrate Burchardt said he accepted Hungry Jack’s did not willfully disobey the law but noted “it was Hungry Jack’s responsibility every bit as much as the SDA’s to ensure the agreement was certified”.

Hungry Jack’s submitted in court that no or minimal penalties should be imposed for a variety of reasons - but Federal Magistrate Burchardt said “Hungry Jack’s simply cannot evade its ultimate responsibility for its actions”.

“One might perhaps even say as a large employer with major resources available to it, it was Hungry Jack’s responsibility to ensure that it met its lawful obligations in relation to compliance with industrial instruments,” he said.

“Indeed it is because it was such a large employer that the single error produced such significant results.

“It is important that large corporations be reminded of their obligations and be deterred from failure to discharge them.”

Fair Work inspectors discovered the underpayments when they audited Hungry Jack’s in 2007 during a national campaign targeting the fast food industry.

After conducting its own assessment of the underpayments, Hungry Jack’s back-paid almost $904,000 to more than 800 current and former staff in 2009.

However, Fair Work inspectors assessed the underpayments to be less – a total of $665,695 owed to 693 employees.

Federal Magistrate Philip Burchardt said Hungry Jack’s has not sought and will not seek to recover the overpayments from the relevant employees.

Mr Campbell says it is important to note that successful prosecutions such as the one against Hungry Jack’s benefit employers who are complying with workplace laws because it helps them to compete on a level playing field.

From a media release by the Fair Work Ombudsman on 13 April 2011

Is the noose closing on casual employment?

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 07:25:00 GMT

Late in 2010, a decision of the Federal Court specified that a casual employee may not actually be a casual employee, and may be entitled to a permanent employee’s entitlements such as annual leave. Even though this decision was made under the Workplace Relations Act 2006, not the current Fair Work Act 2009, the principle may well hold, and employers should take note.

The employee was employed in the mining sector between November 2006 and December 2007, and he:

•   was engaged on a casual basis
•   was paid a ‘Flat Hourly Rate’ which compensated him for, amongst other things, a loading in lieu of paid leave entitlements
•   was required to work 12 hour shifts on a two weeks on / one week off roster
•   could be dismissed by the provision of one hour’s notice.

The employee was dismissed, and subsequently brought a claim in the Federal Magistrates Court seeking a payment from the employer for various amounts, including his unpaid accrued annual leave. Importantly, under the applicable legislation, a ‘casual’ employee was not entitled to a payment for annual leave.

The court considered several factors in coming to the decision that the employee was not really casual at all, including:

•   the employee was expected to be available, on an ongoing basis, to perform the duties required of him
•   the employee worked in accordance with a stable, organised and certain roster
•   there were no significant fluctuations in the work
•   the employee had certainty as to his working hours, with regular starting and finishing times.

The court then ordered that the employer make a payment to the employee for annual leave, and even though the employee had been paid a casual loading for the entire period of employment, the employer was not allowed to offset that against the annual leave payment. The employer was also fined $14,850.

Employers should review the manner in which they engage casual employees to determine whether those employees are, in reality, employed on a casual basis. In doing so, employers should consider whether the employees are working only on demand, or whether the employees have an advance commitment as to the duration of their employment or the days or hours they will work. If casual employees do not appear to be employed on a casual basis, employers should consider taking steps to reclassify the employees as part-time or full time employees.

For more detailed information about casual employment, or to discuss your particular situation, contact Emma Watt.

Redundancy payments for small businesses under the Timber Industry Award 2010

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 05:45:00 GMT

What is redundancy?
An employee is redundant when the employer no longer needs the employee to do the job the employee has been doing. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the work that is performed is no longer required – it could be that, for example, you had three people on assembly and you now only need two people, so one person is redundant.

Please note that the following only applies to employees who are covered by the Timber Industry Award 2010. If you have employees covered by another award, or by an agreement (whether it has passed its expiry date or not) you will need to check the provisions of those documents.

How should an employer choose who will be made redundant?

Employers must be certain to choose who is made redundant in a fair way. For example, the person with the lowest level of skill would be an obvious choice, provided it is objectively clear that the person chosen really does have the lowest level of skill. Length of service can be used provided it does not result in the employer indirectly discriminating against the employee. Choosing someone to be made redundant on the basis of their performance will not be fair unless they have previously been warned about poor performance. Making an employee redundant because they have a history of absenteeism or WorkCover claims could be unlawful.

What does an employer need to pay to a redundant employee?

Notice of termination
The National Employment Standards set out a sliding scale of minimum notice based on length of service that must either be given to an employee, or the employee must be paid a certain number of weeks in lieu of notice.

Redundancy
A redundant employee may also be entitled to redundancy payments. This is also covered by the National Employment Standards, and is based on a number of weeks’ pay depending on length of service.
Another factor that is relevant in the payment of redundancy is the size of the business. The National Employment Standards exclude small businesses (with fewer than fifteen full time equivalent employees) from the requirement to pay redundancy. This means that for most small businesses, they do not have to pay any redundancy at all.

However, under the Furnishing Industry National Award 2003 and the Timber and Allied Industries Award 1999, employees of small businesses were still entitled to redundancy payments because the award had been varied to introduce this type of payment prior to 2004. Because the award had a long-standing history of providing redundancy payments to employees of small businesses, the Timber Industry Award 2010 has retained the provision requiring those payments to be made.

The scale of payments for a small business is different, with a maximum payment of 8 weeks’ pay for an employee with more than four years’ service, compared to the maximum a larger company would have to pay of 16 weeks’ pay for more than nine years’ service.

Long service leave
Any employee in Victoria who is covered by the Long Service Leave Act 1992 and whose employment is terminated after more than seven years’ service is entitled to pro rata payment of long service leave. The rate of pro rata payment is 0.867 weeks of leave for every year of service.

Other leave entitlements
An employee who is made redundant is entitled to payment of all accrued annual leave, and to payment of annual leave loading of 17.5% on all accrued annual leave.

There is no automatic payout of personal/carer’s leave on redundancy in the award.

For advice on redundancy situations, please contact Emma Watt on (03) 8822 3712 or 0411 708 073, or by email on emma@emmawatt.com.au.

When can you require an employee to be at work?

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 23:07:00 GMT

When you tell an employee that they must be at work and ready to start at 7.30 am, do you expect to see them at 7.20 am? Is this reasonable?

The basic premise of a start time is that the employee is at their work station ready to commence work at the nominated time. They could be running through the door with ten seconds to go and still not technically be late for work.

An employer in Tasmania was fined $26,400 in 2008 for the practice of requiring employees to be at work before their nominated start time and for requiring unpaid overtime at the end of the day. They were also required to make good the underpayments.

The retail business strictly enforced the early starts and late finishes, which were used to prepare the store for business before it opened and to close the store down at the end of the day after the doors shut. Employees were not paid for the time they worked before or after store opening hours.

For employers, the message coming out of this case is that if you need an employee to start or finish at a particular time in order to get the work done, payment must be made from (or to) that time.

For more information about what an employer can or can’t require from an employee, contact Emma Watt on (03) 8833 3712 or 0411 708 073, or email on emma@emmawatt.com.au.

What standards are there for workplace amenities?

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:17:00 GMT

WorkSafe Victoria has issued a Compliance Code for Workplace Amenities and Workplace Environment, to provide some information to business owners and managers on how to comply with their duties and obligations under the Occupational Health & Safety Act 2004.

Areas in which WorkSafe has now offered specific guidance include:

Access to drinking water
Toilets & washing facilities - how many, gender segregation, showers
Dining rooms - whether one is needed, what size it should be
Shelter & respite from heat, cold, rain & wind
Seating – providing the opportunity to alternative between sitting & standing to reduce fatigue
Temperature – appropriate range to improve employee comfort and reduce workplace incidents and fatigue
Workspace
Lighting – guidance on how much lighting should be provided for different types of tasks
Change rooms – whether or not they should be provided
Personal storage – whether lockers should be provided

The Compliance Codes are not mandatory, however, if an employer chooses not to use a Compliance Code, he or she must be able to demonstrate to WorkSafe what alternative method they are using to comply with duties & obligations under the OHS Act. This Code, in particular, is quite prescriptive.

For example, the number of toilets that should be provided is governed by both the size of the workplace and the number of employees of each sex who make up the workforce. A workplace with 10 or fewer employees, where no more than two of those employees are of one gender, can have one unisex toilet. All other workplaces should provide toilets in line with the following guidance:

# employees including owners & managers

# closet pans

# employees

# urinal stations

Men

1-20

More than 20

Add 1 per 20*

1-10

11-25

26-50

More than 50

Add 1 per 50*

Women

1-15

More than 15

Add 1 per 15*

* or part thereof

The Compliance Code for Workplace Amenities and Work Environment can be downloaded from www.worksafe.vic.gov.au.

If you have any queries, please contact Emma Watt on (03) 8822 3712 or 0411 708 073, or emma@emmawatt.com.au.

Paid Parental Leave - a quick guide

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 23:06:00 GMT

Paid Parental Leave (PPL) is a scheme funded by the Australian Government, and is designed to provide paid leave to parents when they have a baby or adopt a child. The scheme came into force on 1 January 2011, and provides parents with up to 18 weeks’ pay at the minimum wage, which is currently $570 gross per week.

Parental leave is actually provided by the National Employment Standard – eligible employees are entitled to up to 52 weeks of unpaid leave, and may request up to another 52 weeks of unpaid leave. The Paid Parental Leave scheme then provides payment for a portion of that leave. Employees may also choose to take paid leave entitlements such as annual leave or long service leave, as well as receiving PPL payments.

In order to access PPL, claimants need to satisfy a work test, an income test and a residency requirement. The leave must be taken in one continuous period, although the parent who is on leave may not work but is entitled to ‘keep in touch’ with the workplace.

When does an employer have to make PPL payments

Generally employers are expected to pass on the payments from the government to the employee, although there are some exceptions which would result in the employee being paid directly by the Family Assistance Office.

Between 1 January and 1 July 2011, the employer may choose to provide PPL to eligible employees, but if the employer chooses not to do so, the Family Assistance Office will pay the employee directly. This is partly to avoid the employer having to make changes to their payroll system half way through a financial year. From 1 July 2011, if an eligible employee makes a claim for PPL and it is accepted, then the employer is required to make the payments to the employee.

For the purposes of the PPL scheme, an eligible long term employee is someone who has a baby or adopts a child and:

Will have been one of your employees for 12 months or more prior to the expected date of birth or adoption;
Will be one of your employees for the PPL period;
Is based in Australia; and
Is expected to receive eight weeks or more of PPL pay.

How are employers funded for PPL?

The Government has given a commitment that PPL funding will be provided to employers before the employer is required to pay the employee. Employers will be able to choose between getting the funding in up to nine fortnightly instalments, or in three six-weekly instalments. In order to receive the funding, employers must register with the Family Assistance Office at www.familyassist.gov.au, and provide details of bank accounts, business name, ABN and the employee’s pay cycle.

How do employers pass on the PPL payments?

Employers will pay employees using the funds provided by the government. The payment must be taxed as normal, and a payslip must be provided to the employee.

The PPL payments do not attract superannuation contributions, and will not result in the accrual of additional leave entitlements. You will not have to include PPL payments when calculating payroll tax or workers compensation for the business.

Funding from the government for PPL is considered income for the business and is taxable, consistent with other income received by the business. You can then claim a tax deduction for the amount of PPL pay provided to an employee in the same way that you claim a deduction for wages paid.

Employees receiving PPL payments are entitled to be paid 7.6 hours at the minimum wage (currently $15/hour) for each week day, including public holidays. Employees who have automatic deductions in place may need to modify those, and the payments can be salary sacrificed if the employee chooses. Child support deductions can be made from an employee’s PPL pay.

What is ‘keeping in touch’ with the workplace?

An employee can participate in activities at the workplace for up to ten days from the birth or adoption of a child until the end of their PPL period without losing PPL pay. This participation must be by agreement between the employer and the employee, and may include attending training or planning sessions at the workplace. Any time the employee spends in the workplace would need to be paid under the employee’s contract or award in addition to receiving the PPL payment.

How do employees claim PPL?

Employees can submit a claim for PPL up to three months prior to the birth or adoption of a child. The Family Assistance Office handles PPL claims – www.familyassist.gov.au.

More information?

If you have any queries about Paid Parental Leave, contact Emma Watt, industrial relations consultant on (03) 8822 3712 or 0411 708 073, or by email on emma@emmawatt.com.au.

Emma is an independent industrial relations consultant who specialises in helping owners and managers of small to medium sized businesses around Australia. She can provide assistance with clarification of terms and conditions of employment, performance management and termination, and development of agreements in the workplace.

Do you have to pay for training time?

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 23:01:00 GMT

In the wake of the news that Geelong-based retail giant Cotton On has back-paid 3289 of its employees more than $278,000 after it was discovered the company had failed to pay staff for attending training out of working hours, a number of employers have asked whether training time must always be paid.

Cotton On required staff to attend training and staff meetings out of hours, but did not keep a record of who attended the training, and nor did they pay staff for attending the training.

As a general rule, any time that the employer requires an employee to attend work for any reason, the employee must be paid for that time. In some situations, call-back overtime provisions may apply.

Cotton On voluntarily repaid all money owing last year and has entered into an Enforceable Undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman, promising that it will ensure future compliance with the Fair Work Act.

As part of the Enforceable Undertaking – a measure being used by the Fair Work Ombudsman as an alternative to litigation - Cotton On must:

Post an apology to staff (signed by the Chief Executive Officer) at all its stores, on its website and on the company’s Facebook wall,
Ensure its human resources managers undertake workplace relations compliance training within three months,
Provide a written report to the Fair Work Ombudsman each year for the next three years to illustrate that staff are being paid correctly and identifying any proactive compliance measures.

For more information or assistance with an employer’s compliance obligations, please contact Emma Watt on (03) 8822 3712 or 0411 708 073, or on emma@emmawatt.com.au.

Are you a 'small business'?

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 23:52:00 GMT

Under the new unfair dismissal rules, employees of small businesses are subject to different eligibility rules, and small businesses may use the Small Business Fair Dismissal Code. But who is a 'small business'?

Under the regulations, until 1 January 2011, a 'small business' is one that employs fewer than 15 full time equivalent employees.

In a nutshell (and this is a very broad brush summary of the regulations), you need to add up the number of ordinary hours worked in the previous four weeks by your employees, and divide the result by 152. There you have the number of full time equivalent employees you employ!

If you have any queries about unfair dismissal, or the way the rules would apply in your workplace, please call me or email me.

No change to minimum rates of pay for 2009

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 23:57:00 GMT

There will be no change to minimum rates of pay in Australian Pay & Classification Scales for 2009.

In a decision issued this afternoon, the Fair Pay Commission cited the marked change in the economic outlook since 2008 as the reason for the wage freeze.

"Employment growth is slowing, average working hours are falling, and the unemployment rate is expected to rise to 8.5%. As in previous downturns, the impact of these changes in the labour market will be felt most acutely by low-paid, low-skilled workers.

In the current environment, the ability of employers to offer sufficient work has been curtailed and there is a heightened risk that an increase in minimum wages would reduce employment and working hours.

The Commission recognises that consumer prices continue to increase, putting some pressure on household disposable income. However, the Australian Government's changes to the tax/transfer system and its recent fiscal stimulus packages have provided real increases to disposable income for most households maintaining the safety net.

Research shows that the burden of higher unemployment falls disproportionately on low-paid, low-skilled workers. It also falls on those attempting to gain a foothold in the labour market. The decision not to vary minimum wages at this time will help minimise the effect of the downturn on employment and particularly its impact on the most vulnerable workers.

In making this decision, the Commission has focused on protecting jobs and supporting a stronger recovery in employment as the economy improves."

If you have a query about the decision, or would like a copy of the 2008 wage rates, please call Emma on (03) 8822 3712 or 0411 708 073, or email her on emma@emmawatt.com.au.