The End of Financial Year (EOFY) is a great time for businesses to check-in on their general practices and procedures when it comes to employing people. Employment in Australia is a highly regulated area of law and one that needs to be strictly complied with in order to avoid potential penalties and lawsuits. Protecting your business comes down to how well-managed and up-to-date your employment procedures are.
We have identified the main issues that you should be aware of as the financial year comes to a close. This is by no means an exhaustive list and we would encourage you to contact us for a more thorough overview of your employment law obligations.
- Minimum Wage: The national minimum wage will increase by 5.2% on 1 July 2022, to $21.38 per hour ($812.60 per week). There is also an increase for those covered by Modern Awards. If an employee is earning above $869.60 per week, they will receive a 4.6% increase. If the employee is earning below $869.60 per week, they will receive a $40 increase. (NOTE: There are some Awards that have a delayed commencement date for these increases – please ensure you check your relevant Awards).
- Change to Superannuation Guarantee percentage: on 1 July 2022, the superannuation guarantee payable to all eligible employees increases from 10% to 10.5%. You must ensure that the correct amount is being allocated to your employee’s super accounts.
- Record Keeping:
- Ensure all employees have up-to-date contracts.
- Review and update (where required) all policies and procedures.
- Ensure your record-keeping processes are up to date (i.e. pay slips, time sheets, leave entitlements, etc).
- Vaccinations: Review the current mandatory vaccination rules for your State and ensure that you are continuing to comply with any orders that are still in place, which impact your workforce.
- Fair Work Information Statement and Casual Conversion Information Statement: Ensure that all new and existing employees have received a copy of these statements, where applicable.
- Casual Employees: In accordance with the casual conversion laws, review all your casual workforce and ensure that you adhere to the casual conversion rules, where applicable. That is, make sure you are aware of the timeframes applicable to your casual employees and if and when they will become eligible for conversion.
- Independent Contractors: Ensure that all independent contractors hired in your business have up to date written contracts. The High Court recently provided clarification regarding the distinction between independent contractors and employees. Accordingly, you must ensure that written contracts are in place and reflect the current position.
- Occupational Health & Safety / Working From Home: Review all practices and procedures and ensure you are on top of your OH&S obligations. It is also a great time to review your current working from home policies and ensure that if you have employees continuing to work from home, you have adequate checks and balances in place to ensure OH&S compliance.
If you need more information or require an ‘employment law health-check’, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our employment law team for a chat.
Francine Hoyne-Clancy
Senior Associate, Workplace Relations/Employment Law
