Record Keeping Requirements

Employers are adhere to strict record keeping requirements as set out in the Fair Work Act 2009, in relation to employee records.

What is Legally Required?

Records relating to employees must contain:

1. Name of the employee;

2. Name of the employer and the Australian Business Number of the employer;

3. Whether the employee’s employment is full time, part time, permanent, temporary or casual; and

4. The date on which the employee’s employment began.

What Form Must Records Be In?

A record must be in a legible form and in the English language and a record must be in a form that is readily accessible to an inspector.

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What About Pay Information?

Employers are required to make and keep a record that specifies:

1. The rate of remuneration paid to the employee;

2. The gross and net amounts paid to the employee; and

3. Any deductions made from the gross amount paid to the employee.

If the employee is a casual or irregular part time employee who is guaranteed a rate of pay set by reference to a period of time worked, the record must set out the hours worked by the employee. If the employee is entitled to be paid incentive based payments, bonus, loading, penalty rate or any other monetary allowance or separately identifiable entitlement, the record must set out those details.

Do I Have To Include Overtime Payment?

If an employee is entitled to a penalty rate or loading for working overtime hours, an employer must make and keep a record that specifies:

1. The number of overtime hours worked by the employee during each day; and

2. When the employee started and ceased working overtime hours.

Am I Required to Record Leave?

If an employee is entitled to leave, the employer must make and keep a record that sets out:

1. Any leave that the employee takes; and

2. The balance (if any) of the employee’s entitlement to that leave from time to time.

If an employer and employee agree to cash out an accrued amount of leave, an employer must keep a copy of the agreement and the record must set out the rate of payment for the amount of leave that was cashed out and when the payment was made.

Do I Have To Make & Keep Superannuation Contribution Records?

If an employer is required to make superannuation contributions for the benefit of an employee, the employer must make and keep a record that specifies:

• The amount of the contributions made;

• The period over which the contributions were made;

• The date on which each contribution was made;

• The name of any fund to which a contribution was made; and

• The basis on which the employer became liable to make the contribution, including a record of any election made by the employee as to the fund to which contributions are to be made and the date of any relevant election.

What Is A Guarantee Of Annual Earnings?

It is an amount guaranteed in writing to any employee by an employer which includes wages, salary, the value of agreed non-monetary amounts and sacrificed amounts but excludes SGC contributions and discretionary amounts. An employer must comply with the guarantee during any period that the employee’s annual rate of earning covered by the undertaking exceeds the high income threshold of $138,900 (indexed annually) as at the 1st July 2016 and the employee is covered by an award. Non-compliance will expose the employer to liability under the Act.

If an employer gives a guarantee of annual earnings, the guarantee must be included in an employee record. If an employer revokes a guarantee of annual earnings, the employee record must include the date of the revocation.

Does A Termination Of Employment Have To Be Recorded?

If an employee’s employment is terminated, the employee record must set out:

• Whether the employment was terminated:

• By consent; or

• By notice; or

• Summarily; or

• In some other manner (specifying the manner); and

• The name of the person who acted to terminate the employment.

Transfer Of Business

The participants in the transfer of business are the old employer, the new employer and a transferring employee:

1. The old employer must transfer to the new employer each employee record concerning a transferring employee that the old employer was required to keep at the time at which the connection between the old employer and the new employer occurs.

2. If the old employer is a Commonwealth authority, the old employer only has to provide copies of those records.

3. If the transferring employee becomes an employee of the new employer after the time at which the connection between the old employer and new employer occurs, the new employer must ask the old employer to give the new employer the employee records concerning the transferring employee.

4. If the old employer receives a request under 3 above, the old employer must give the employee records to the new employer.

5. The new employer who receives transferred employee records must keep the records, as if they had been made by the new employer at the time at which they were made by the old employer.

6. The new employer is not required to make employee records relating to the transferring employee’s employment with the old employer.

Inspection Of Records

An employer must make a copy of an employee record available for inspection and copying on request by the employee or former employee to whom the record relates. The employer must make the copy available in a legible form to the employee or former employee for inspection and copying.

If the employee record is kept at the premises at which the employee works or the former employee worked, the employer must:

1. Make the copy available at the premises within 3 business days after receiving the request; or

2. Post a copy of the employee record to the employee or former employee within 14 days after receiving the request.

If the employee record is not kept at the premises at which the employee works or worked, the employer must as soon as practicable after the request:

1. Make the copy available at the premises; or

2. Post a copy of the employee record to the employee or former employee.

Pay Slips

A pay slip must be in electronic form or hard copy. A pay slip must specify:

• Name of the employee;

• Name of the employer;

• The period to which the pay slip relates;

• The date on which the payment to which the pay slip relates was made;

• The gross amount of the payment;

• The net amount of the payment;

• Any amount paid to the employee that is a bonus, loading, allowance, penalty rate, incentive based payment or other separately identifiable entitlement; and

• The Australian Business Number of the employer.

If an amount is deducted from the gross amount of the payment, the pay slip must also include the name, or the name and number, of the fund or account into which the deduction was paid.

If the employee is paid at an hourly rate of pay the payslip must also include:

• The rate of pay for the employee’s ordinary hours (however described);

• The number of hours in that period for which the employee was employed at that rate; and

• The amount of the payment made at that rate.

If the employee is paid at an annual rate of pay, the pay slip must also include the rate as at the latest date to which the payment relates.

If the employer is required to make superannuation contributions or the benefit of the employee, the pay slip must also include:

• The amount of each contribution that the employer made during the period to which the pay slip relates and the name, of any fund to which the contribution was made; or

• The amount of contributions that the employer is liable to make in relation to the period to which the pay slip relates, and the name of any fund to which the contributions will be made.

  Disclaimer

  The information provided in these blog articles is general in nature and is not intended to substitute for professional advice. If you are unsure about how this information applies to your specific situation we recommend you contact Kinetic Wizard for advice.