Last Year Annuised Salary workers Payroll Award Interpretation in the Hospitality and Restaurant industries had overtime limits set to their pay conditions.
The process was to set the maximum overtime and shift penalty rate hours worked to a maximum (12 hrs for overtime and 18 hours for shift penalties) that after which the employees would be paid the extra times calculated at the award loaded penalty shift penalty hours rates each week. “Technology staff, engineers and game workers have won sector-wide rights to overtime pay and penalty rates – but only if they are paid less than $102,000 a year.” David Martin-Guzman Workplace Correspondent”
Is this the future of award conditions for all salaried employee?. I think so.
The process is already incorporated in the Inzenius Payroll Award Interpreter for easy management and processing.
The article below by David Marin-Guzman Workplace correspondent, the Financial Review
Tech and gaming workers get overtime rights.
“Technology staff, engineers and game workers have won sector-wide rights to overtime pay and penalty rates – but only if they are paid less than $102,000 a year.
The Fair Work Commission on Monday drafted minimum overtime entitlements for salaried workers under the professionals award for the first time after considering some tech workers were working more than 60 hours a week.
Game workers could work more than 60 hours a week for two months’ straight ahead of a game’s release, the union said. Jean Chung
Employers will have to record the workers’ hours and pay penalty rates for work done on Sundays, public holidays and after 10pm on weekdays and Saturdays.
However, the rules will not apply to employees paid 25 per cent or more than the award, where rates range from $56,180 to $81,693 a year depending on seniority.
“The minimum annual wages for which the award provides cannot be regarded as high enough to compensate any employee, even a professional employee, for all the incidents of their employment, and were never intended to do so,” the commission said.
The decision marks the end of a two-year case for overtime and timesheets for the sector first flagged by the commission in April 2020.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said although the FWC did not grant many of the union’s claims the changes “will impose additional costs on employers who pay their employees at close to the award rate and will subject them to record keeping requirements that they will consider burdensome and unwarranted, especially in the context of professional employees”.
Professionals Australia had sought more extensive entitlements, including meal breaks, evening penalty rates after 6pm, weekend rates of up to 200 per cent and overtime set at 150 per cent for the first three hours before rising to 200 per cent.
Union officials gave evidence that engineers were paid less than the minimum hourly rate because they worked an average 44 hours a week, according to member surveys.
Engineers in consulting firms told the union that 60-70-hour weeks, seven days a week, were common during a project, while IT staff were said to work unsocial hours so as not to disrupt their clients’ businesses.
In the games industry, the union said that it was not unusual for tech teams to work 60 hours a week for two months’ straight ahead of a game’s release or immediately after. The union said it had also seen some gaming contracts pay below-award rates.
Pros not used to ‘clocking on’
But Australian Industry Group argued penalty rates and restrictions on hours were inappropriate for highly skilled professionals often required to deliver outcomes rather than perform discrete tasks or work set hours.
“Employees covered by the award are not accustomed to ‘clocking on’ and ‘clocking off’, enjoy the autonomy and flexibility that setting their own start and finish times affords, and are assessed by reference to the quality of the work they undertake rather than the hours worked,” it said.
It warned that Professionals Australia’s proposed changes represented a “fundamental and historic shift” from how professional employees’ hours and pay had been regulated and would likely reduce their flexibility.
The full bench, led by acting president Adam Hatcher, ruled it was “not industrially appropriate” to introduce prescriptive overtime rules and weekend penalty rates for highly paid salaried professionals who needed to work flexibly to do their job.
However, it found overtime measures were necessary for the minority of low-paid professionals whose excessive hours meant they earned less than the hourly minimum.
The bench opted for a “minimalist” approach so that ordinary hours were 38 a week and employers had to pay the minimum hourly rate for each hour after that or equivalent time off in lieu.
“This shall include work on or in connection with call-backs and work performed on electronic devices or otherwise remotely,” the bench said.
Employers would not have to pay penalty rates for evening or Saturday work unless it was after 10pm or before 6am and could require “reasonable” additional hours.
However, workers would get penalty rates of 150 per cent for Sunday or public holidays.
Professionals Australia chief executive Jill McCabe said the union had achieved “an important victory” and that “graduates or professionals on moderate salaries, will be the biggest beneficiaries of these changes”.
“The Fair Work Commission’s decision now means professional employees who are reliant on the minimum award rates will be properly compensated for overtime during early mornings, late nights and over the weekend,” she said.
Mr Willox said the commission’s decision to exempt employees paid more than 25 per cent above minimum rates “strikes a sensible and practical balance”.
“This will moderate the impact of the decision on many employers.”
Parties have until February 10 to make submissions to the proposed variation.”
To learn more about Inzenius read on:
It is all about the culture and the drive, delivery and maintenance behind it.
The Inzenius story is all about innovation in automation of comprehensive Award Interpretation, linked directly to the Time and Attendance validation against the Rostering with the Payroll System for the automated creation of the Electronic Timesheet with its electronic sign off by the manager and employee through to Australian Compliant Award Interpreter automating payroll production and processing, including STP2 Payroll system and bank processing of pays.
The HRM, Rostering, Timekeeping, Award Interpretation Payroll with contemporary employee communication to and from their mobile device delivers a great employee experience with all-in-one experience.
Australian Compliant Payroll Is So Much Easier with Inzenius’ Award Interpretation Software
The Inzenius package includes all the processes from employee Onboarding linked to Rostering, Time & Attendance, Australian Compliant Award Interpreter from the approved Electronic Timesheet and STP2 approved Payroll processing and distributions in one. That’s Inzenius.
All Inzenius users were easily set up on the Inzenius STP Payroll System reporting platform due to the flexibility of Inzenius’ Australian Compliant Award Interpretation software.
Employee device HRM Rostering Timekeeping and Payroll system in one includes onboarding data entry efficiency.
Easy Rostering Development and Employee Notification. using the Employee Rostering Software.
Electronic Timesheet Software with GPS locating reporting back to the staff rostering system.
Simplified Electronic Timesheet Software inbuilt into the Inzenius Payroll System directly into the Inzenius Electronic Timesheet Software makes it so easy for the staff to record their time worked at each location with GPS tracking and automated time recording for validation to rosters for supervisor approval.
Inzenius commenced with the development and launch of its Award-winning Rostering with Payroll System in 2007. It has been awarded the Oracle and Telstra Innovation Awards and has a patent for its innovative system design.
What makes it so different?
The Automated Payroll System from Inzenius’ own in-system comprehensive Award Interpreter from its Electronic Timesheet Software presents to supervisors the comparison of times attended to the Staff Rostering System for analysis and approval. The system will create the ability of group electronic sign-off of all the compliant times worked and present for review and acceptance of any variances.
Remote employee timekeeping process from a local phone, computer, kiosk or mobile device with GPS site tracking clock are options available.
Adding the capability of the system for the tracking in the Staff Rostering System of time worked on different jobs provides the ability for job labour costing with analysis of the Award Interpreter available to the Staff Timesheet System as well as the Electronic Timesheet Software for each job and or customer. This data provides the opportunity to create a direct billing API to the business billing system. It also can deliver labour time and cost productivity analysis based on the time allocated for each task completed in comparison to the actual time and cost thereof taken for the job.
The HRM Rostering Timekeeping Award Interpretation Payroll integrated in the one system delivers a great employee experience efficiently through the system’s employee portals published to their devices. The features that can be included in the Staff Rostering System is the publication to each employee via the Staff Rostering Software of their roster for their acceptance. Unfilled rosters are updated directly for the supervisor to follow up on those not accepted. If a roster remains empty the supervisor will be presented with available employees to fill the shift with the appropriate skills and permissions to work at the site.
The HRM Rostering Timekeeping and Payroll system will enable the employees to also add their availabilities, leave requests or update details on their employee file with direct update to the Payroll System.
Employees will also be able to view their approved times on the device in the Electronic Timesheet Software and address any errors or omissions with their supervisor each day after the shifts have been approved in the Electronic Timesheet Software.
Employees can view the payslips on the device in the Inzenius HRM Rostering Timekeeping and Payroll System. They will also be able to view their leave balances as they apply for leave that then can be approved online by the supervisor in the Staff Rostering System.
Building and costing rosters to the business budget is easy due to the Inzenius Award Interoperation Software link to the Inzenius Employee Rostering System. The systems Award Interpretation Software will cost the rosters developed and compare them to the budgets established for each business unit. This provides the opportunity to modify the Staff Rostering before they are published to the employees.
Once rosters are ready for publishing the supervisor with a click of a button, pushes the rosters to each employee mobile device. Of course, the alternative is to print and post the roster from the easy-to-read roster publication and print tool
Using the MS PowerBI capabilities, the data is easily available for the development of the business reporting and dashboard need.
The power of the integrated in one system Inzenius HRM Rostering Timekeeping and Payroll System and its unique capabilities in its Australian Compliant Award Interpreter is all delivered in its Rostering Time and Attendance Award Interpreter Payroll system, built specificity for the Australian and New Zealand payroll rule environments. Getting Automated Payroll interpretation wrong is not an option these days.
