New annualised salary obligations coming into effect from 1st March 2020?
Will you be ready?
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) have introduced three new annualised salary obligations clauses, as part of their four-year review. Each of the clauses were created to represent the work patterns and habits relative to each industry, and then allocated to each of the 22 modern awards affected. If you identify with any one of these awards, then now is the time to start examining your agreements both new and old, to ensure you are ready for the change’s effective 1st March 2020.
The clauses incorporate significant changes with the annualised salary obligations including but not limited to:
- New written requirements incorporating notification of how the salary was calculated, noting weekly hours of work and relevant award obligations, and in some cases setting limits on maximum hours included in remuneration (with additional payments required if exceeded);
- New record keeping requirements. It is now compulsory for all salary employees to keep signed accurate time and attendance records including start time, finish time and unpaid meal breaks taken;
- New wage reconciliation requirements. Every 12 months a reconciliation must be conducted using the time sheets and based on the award payment due, if they were paid as per the award. If a shortfall is identified between what was paid and what the award would have paid, then this must be paid to the employee;
- In addition, a year to date reconciliation must also be completed upon termination with any underpayments to be paid within 14 days;
Employers need to ensure that they have the infrastructure in place to comply with the new record keeping requirements, wage reconciliation process, and managing remuneration for overtime payments if required.
The team at Fresh HR Insights are watching this changes carefully and will be in touch with our clients in due course for how it will impact them and the tools are have created to make this as easy as possible. If you are not a client of ours and need some support please email us on paulette@freshhrinsights.com.au