HR Central

Show me the money!

By Cath Grawe, HR Central Communications Officer

Advice. Awareness. Connect. Collaborate.

HR HELPDESK

1300 01 SSAA / 1300 017 722

There are a few essential HR requirements that every employer, regardless of industry, must address. The main areas are: l Paying in line with or above the correct award and being classified correctly within that award. Ensuring so helps avoid underpayments – which are a serious breach of workplace law, resulting in not only paying back monies owed, but also risking fines and loss of reputation; l Ensuring that you are “employing” correctly. Part time/Full time

Permanent? Casual? Contractor?

It is essential that every employee receives the correct entitlements for their work type and it pays to know the difference; and l Providing safe working conditions so employees are not at risk of physical or psychological harm. Not only preventing physical dangers such as dangerous equipment, faulty wiring, lack of safety wear and safety procedure is not acceptable, so too is harassment, bullying and discrimination which can have serious detrimental effects on an employee. l No doubt most of you are aware of the above, and have appropriate procedures and processes in place to ensure that you are compliant with workplace law, but there is another, equally important but less considered, HR function to be added to the list. The humble pay slip… Do I have to provide a pay slip to my employees? Yes. If you employ people under Commonwealth Workplace laws, you are required to keep accurate and complete pay records for all your employees and issue them with a payslip. How often do I have to provide pay slips? You must provide a payslip to all your employees within one working day of their payday, even if the employee is on leave. These days many employers deliver payslips online and electronically via email, but legally you can provide the payslip in electronic or hard copy form. It should be in easy to follow or plain English. Payslips should be accessible to employees, so for those who don’t have ready access to email i.e. those working in remote locations or in a manufacturing environment, you may need to issue hard copies of pay slips.

At the end of the financial (EOFY) you must also provide each of your employees with a PAYG summary (Pay as you go statement). This is an extra pay statement required by the Australian Tax Office to document the full year’s pay paid by you to the employee. What information must I include on a payslip? Payslips must include the details of any payments, deductions and superannuation contributions made for each pay period including the following: l The name of the employer and your

ABN (if you have one) l The name of the employee l The date of the payment and the pay period which is being covered. If the employee is being paid an hourly rate, then you should cite that rate l Details of any payments made – both the gross and net amounts l Details of any loadings paid (including casual loadings), any monetary allowances or incentive- based payments or bonuses, penalty rates or any other entitlements that can be separately identified l Details of any deductions taken from the employees’ pay including the amount and details of the deduction, and the name and number of the fund or account that the deduction was paid into l Superannuation contributions paid for the employee’s benefit including the name and or the number of the superannuation fund the benefits

are paid into and the amount of the contributions being made during the pay period It is not obligatory to include your employee’s leave on a payslip however it is generally considered to be best practice. How long do I need to keep time and wage records for? You must keep your employees’ time and wage records for seven years. The records of an employee are private, and access should only be given to the employee, employer and payroll staff or the accountant. You must also make those records available to a Fair Work inspector upon request for them to verify whether an employee has been paid properly. What happens if I don’t comply with these requirements? If you don’t include the right information on a pay slip or issue it within one day of the employee’s pay day you can be issued an ‘infringement notice’ by Fair Work Australia. Fines can be up to $1260 per breach per individual or $6300 for a corporation. Fair Work will take into account the circumstances of the breach when deciding whether to issue an infringement notice. They may opt to not issue an infringement notice but may assist the employer to fix the problem.

If you have any questions about payslip information, or on any of the above, you have the offer as an SSAA member to call the HR Help Desk for some free advice! Sometimes it pays to check… l

Cath Grawe is the Chief Communications Officer at HR Central. When she is not writing, talking or representing all things HR Central, she can be found attached to the stove cooking for her 14-year-old 6ft son!