In what is said to be the biggest change in payroll since the ATO introduced the Single Touch Payroll scheme, the Fair Work Commission is set to roll out changes to their Modern Awards as part of their four-yearly review.

These updates relate to how employees on annualised wages are paid and reported on, including employer obligations surrounding record-keeping, pay entitlements, annual reconciliations and notifying or agreeing on the employee’s salary.

A list of the affected awards can be found here.

The Changes

• The annualised salary you pay.
• Which provisions of the award you satisfy by paying the annualised salary.
• The method you used to calculate the annualised salary, including the methods used to calculate each component such as overtime and penalty assumptions.
• Overtime hours which the employee may have to work.
• Timesheet start and finish times (including any unpaid breaks) that employees must then sign or acknowledge stating the records are correct.

Auditing

The employer will be required to conduct employee audits every 12 months from the commencement of the annualised salary arrangement or upon the termination of the individual’s employment.

The audit must calculate the amount of remuneration the employee would have received had they been paid in accordance with the award provisions.
Any shortfall identified in the audit must be paid to the employee within 14 days.

Failure to comply with these new changes will be treated just like any other breach of a Modern Award, meaning employers may be subject to significant penalties if they fail to comply.

Solution

Of all of these changes being introduced, the most complex obligation for employers is undertaking the annual reconciliation and ensuring all award provisions have been accounted for. Fortunately Scout Pay will make this process simple and efficient for employers with an enhanced pay conditions engine and rule tester affording them the ability to;

• Import an employees timesheet using a 12 month date range
• Have the system automatically interpret the timesheet costs based on the award provisions and pay template (that would have otherwise applied to that employee had they not been on an annualised wage arrangement)
• Export the data to Excel

Scout Pay provides a hassle-free method of ensuring employees meet their obligations under the new annualised salary provisions in the affected modern award.

To find out more about Scout Pay or recruitment technology, contact the Scout Talent team on 07 3330 2595 or at info@scouttalent.com.au.

Scout Pay Features

Scout Pay:

• Provides transparency for employer and employee – The results will include a list of the specific rules activated by each timesheet and clarifying how the timesheet cost was determined. Upon completing this audit, employers can then easily compare the results to what the employee was actually paid using our extensive suite of payroll reports.
• Streamlines processes – With these added enhancements to the rules tester, employers will now be able to self audit their annualised employees without the need for any manual calculations or interpretation of award provisions
• Reduced admin time – An annual reconciliation for one employee will take no longer than 8 minutes!