Understanding your Rights and Responsibilities as an Employer

1. Understanding your Rights and Responsibilities as an Employer Date: Presented by:

2. Sources of Obligations

3. The National Employment Standards

4. Workshop Challenge: Leave

5. Workshop Challenge: Leave

6. Industrial instruments • Modern Awards • cover most workplaces • industry and/or occupation-based • contain minimum entitlements • Enterprise Agreements • apply to specified workplaces • negotiated with employees • must be approved by Fair Work Australia • override modern award (except base rate of pay)

7. Other arrangements • Individual Flexibility Arrangements • can vary certain award / agreement terms • must be genuinely agreed between employer and employee • employee must be ‘better off overall’ • Employment Contracts • can provide equivalent or more generous conditions than NES and award / agreement • cannotundercut minimum entitlements.

8. Wages

9. Wages • Pay rates are set by the applicable modern award or enterprise agreement • Changes to pay rates generally take effect on 1 July each year. • Modern award wages are transitioning from the pre-modern award to the modern award

10. Pay slips & record-keeping

11. Record-keeping • You need to keep employee records for each employee relating to: • Their employment • Pay • Overtime • Hours of work • Leave • Superannuation contributions • Termination of employment • Other matters (IFAs and guarantees of annual earnings) • Records must be in English, accessible to employees and Fair Work Inspectors and kept for 7 years. • Record-keeping templates can be downloaded for free from the Fair Work Ombudsman website.

12. Pay slips • Pay slips need to be issued within 1 working day of payment • Pay slips can be issued electronically or in hard copy • Pay slips must contain certain information – see the Employee records and pay slips fact sheet for details • Pay slip templates can be downloaded for free from the Fair Work Ombudsman website

13. Workshop Exercise: Payslips

14. Engaging, Managing & Terminating Staff

15. Hiring Employees • Confirm: • the award/agreement that applies • the type of employment (full-time, part-time or casual) • any conditions re: type of employment/proposed hours • the employee’s classification (e.g. Level 1) • the correct rate of pay, loadings and allowances • Provide new employees with: • the Fair Work Information Statement • an engagement letter confirming their conditions of employment (optional)

16. Engaging Contractors • Independent contractors are people who are self-employed and contract their services to clients. • Independent contractors are not employees and have different rights and obligations. • Misrepresenting or disguising an employee as an independent contractor is known as ‘sham contracting’ and is against the law.

17. ‘Adverse Action’ • Adverse action is includes taking, threatening to take or organising to take actions that: • dismiss the employee • injure the employee in his or her employment • alter the position of the employee to the employee's prejudice • discriminate between the employee and other employees • Different forms of adverse action apply to prospective employees and independent contractors

18. Protections from Adverse Action • It is unlawful for an employer to take adverse action in connection with the employee having: • workplace rights 2. freedom of association/union rights and/or engaging in lawful industrial activity 3. protected attributes / on discriminatory grounds

19. Handling workplace disputes • Communicate - take time to understand and discuss the concerns. Keep detailed notes of discussions. • Check the applicable modern award/agreement to confirm the process for handling disputes. • If unresolved, refer to an independent third party or Fair Work Australia. • Download the Effective dispute resolution - Best Practice Guide from the Fair Work Ombudsman website

20. Managing underperformance • Address underperformance promptly and appropriately • Follow any steps set out in the award / agreement or contractand consider applicable policies or procedures concerning performance management • Download the Managing Underperformance Best Practice Guide from the Fair Work Ombudsman website

21. Terminating employment • Provide written notice of termination of employment • Ensure the dismissal is fair • Ensure the dismissal is lawful • Check if redundancy entitlements apply • Keep records • Pay outstanding entitlements

22. Workshop Challenge: Notice

23. Workshop Challenge: Notice

24. Things to avoid… • Not paying penalties, allowances or overtime • Not paying for work trials, meetings or training • Offering goods or services instead of pay • Failing to provide pay slips • Unlawful discrimination • Sham contracting • Sham apprenticeships or trainee arrangements

25. What to do if the FWO contacts you • Speak with your franchisor and seek advice if you need it • Cooperate with the Fair Work Inspector – produce requested documents and records; ask questions if you don’t understand • Seek to promptly resolve the complaint or any issues raised in an audit

26. Where to get help • Speak with your franchisor or employer association • Visit www.fairwork.gov.au for: • Pay tools and Leave calculator • Fact Sheets and Best Practice Guides • Template Documents and Checklists • Industry Specific Web Pages • Live chat and email enquiries • Latest news and subscriptions services • Call the Fair Work Infoline – 1313 94