Emma Watt Workplace Untangler - Our Articles

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!