Australia. Navigating the Employment and Labour Laws in. Salary. Working Hours and Overtime MARCH 2018 ISSUE

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1 MARCH 2018 ISSUE Navigating the Employment and Labour Laws in Australia The employer and employee relationship under the Australia labour law is regulated by a complex statutory and regulatory framework, which includes legislation, regulations and industrial instruments such as modern awards and enterprise agreements. There have been many significant changes to the state and federal regulatory frameworks, particularly over the past decade. As strong penalties are awarded for non-compliance, it is important that you as an employer, get familiarised with the rights and obligations under Australian employment law. Salary The National Minimum Wage was increased to AUD per week (before tax), or AUD18.29 (before tax) per hour from 1 July Each year, the Fair Work Commission reviews modern award minimum wages, and sets a national minimum wage order for employees who are not covered by enterprise agreements or modern awards. Failure to comply with the National Minimum Wage or any minimum wages provided for in a modern award or an enterprise agreement may result in prosecution and penalties by the Fair Work Ombudsman, who handles complaints regarding compliance with workplace laws and investigate if they suspect there is a breach. Working Hours and Overtime Under the Fair Work Act, the maximum weekly working hours of full time employees should not exceed 38 hours per week. If a request to work overtime is reasonable, the employee will generally be required to work such overtime. Overtime requirements are generally regulated by a combination of the employment contract, any applicable award or agreement and legislation in some industries. The employer may offer some additional remuneration such as higher annual

2 salaries, time off-in-lieu, and payment via premium hourly rates to compensate for additional working hours. Holidays Under the National Employment Standards (NES), full-time employees are entitled to four weeks of paid annual leave per year. This is pro-rated for part-time employees and increased to five weeks for shift workers (as defined in modern awards). Casual employees are generally not entitled to annual leave. Annual leave that is not taken each year accrues from year to year and is paid out on termination. Public holiday entitlements vary between the states in Australia although, in most cases, approximately ten paid days per year are declared public holidays. As businesses (particularly the retail and hospitality industries) often open for trade on public holidays, employers may be required to pay workers a premium in exchange for giving up the day. The NES provides an involuntary right to severance pay upon redundancy to most employees in Australia. There are several exclusions from this entitlement, including those who: a) are employed in small workplaces with fewer than 15 employees (on a simple head count basis including casual employees who are employed on a regular and systematic basis) b) are fixed term employees c) are casual employees or d) have less than 12 months service with an employer. The severance package payable under the NES ranges from four to 16 weeks salary, depending upon the employee s period of service with the employer, as detailed in the table below: Employees are entitled to 10 days of paid personal leave per year (pro-rata for part-time employees), which includes sick leave and carer s leave, which can be used to provide care for family members who are ill, injured or affected by an unexpected medical emergency. Notice of Termination and Redundancy To lawfully terminate employment, an employee must receive a period of notice or payment of wages in lieu of notice. Typically, an employee s contract of employment will specify the period of notice of termination of employment and provide that a payment can be made in lieu of notice. The notice period will vary, depending on the length of service of the employee and the employee s age. The following table details the minimum periods of notice prescribed in the Fair Work Act: Termination of Employment Terminating an employee is heavily regulated in Australia. There are a number of legal remedies available to employees on termination of employment, including: a) Unfair dismissal (this jurisdiction is only available to employees who have completed a minimum employment period of six months (or 12 months for small businesses) and who earn less than the high-income threshold, which is increased on 1 July each year, or employees who are covered by an award or enterprise agreement)

3 AUSTRALIA b) Discrimination / general protections action (that is, the termination was for an unlawful reason such as age, sex, race, trade union membership or because the employee exercised a workplace right) c) Breach of any applicable employment contract. Adequate compensation, money damages or reinstatement to employment may be awarded in the event of a successful legal challenge from an employee. When considering termination of employment, it is necessary to evaluate employment rights, obligations, and entitlements as they may arise under the employment contract, applicable awards, enterprise agreements and legislation. BIPO APAC Leader Speaks at Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI) s Inaugural #infohr Session Staying ahead of the competition involves understanding your customers needs and evolving with the times. Speakers at the Singapore Human Resources Institute (SHRI) s inaugural #infohr session on 13 February understood the importance of keeping up with HR technology to attract the best talents. The event also provided valuable insights on HR and employer related government programmes and work grants. BIPO s Suwandi Ng, Managing Director, Southeast Asia and Oceania shared some best practices on how our industry leading technology and services help transform our clients HR processes and drive employee engagement while achieving their business goals. It was a great platform to showcase our services and network with everyone!

4 Lunar New Year Celebrations in Various BIPO APAC Offices Singapore & Hong Kong Employees in Singapore and Hong Kong offices welcomed the year of the dog with the traditional Lo Hei on 23 and 26 February respectively. Translated Lo Hei stands for stirring up prosperity, involving the traditional Chinese ceremony of tossing and eating yu sheng, a colourful salad of fresh raw fish, crunchy vegetables and toppings, each symbolic of bringing in good luck for the new lunar year. Everyone gathered round the table with their chopsticks in hand and on cue, tossed the shredded ingredients of yu sheng as high as possible while saying auspicious wishes to celebrate the start of a new year. Taiwan and Indonesia The BIPO Taiwan team ushered in the lunar new year with prosperity red packets, which are the most significant part of the Chinese New Year celebrations. BIPO Indonesia team also began the new year with an abundant fortune festive feast! 1 Congratulations to BIPO s CEO, Michael Chen, the Newly Elected Vice President of Shanghai Human Resources Consulting Association! Michael Chen, CEO of BIPO was elected as the Vice President of the Shanghai Human Resources Consulting Association during the 5th annual meeting of election bodies on the afternoon of 2 February. During the election meeting, the board of directors established and set out the exciting plans for 2018, as well as approved the audit reports and financial resources for the year.

5 It is a great honour for both Michael and BIPO, as he was unanimously chosen to serve as the Vice President. Commenting on taking up this prestigious role, I appreciate the opportunity to help achieve Shanghai Human Resources Consulting Association s goal of delivering the best service to members, stakeholders and customers. His four-year term, which places him at the helm of the association s Executive Committee, begins 1 January 2018 to 31 December Congratulations Michael for making us very proud! 2 BIPO Participated in Overseas Talent Station Meeting Michael Chen, CEO of BIPO was recently invited by the Shanghai Human Resources Consulting Association to participate in a high-level meeting held at Shanghai Talent Tower on 31 January to discuss setting up of an overseas talent station in Jing an district as the city looks to nurture overseas talent and attract investments. During the meeting, Michael expressed his views and revealed that many Chinese businesses and startups are gaining foothold and recognition abroad, and they would require more government support. About Us BIPO is a leading one-stop human resources provider in Asia Pacific, focused on providing organisations with innovative ways to manage complex end-to-end HR processes. Through our cloud and mobile-based Human Resources Management system as well as industry-leading solutions such as Payroll Outsourcing, Attendance Automation, Business Intelligence, HR Consulting, Recruitment & Business Process Outsourcing and Flexible Employee Management, we help companies transform their HR operations to and beyond their expectations, while achieving business goals related to cost and profitability. Founded in 2004, our APAC headquarters is in Singapore and R&D centre in Indonesia. We have offices in Australia, China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Thailand with business links in over 10 countries and regions. info@biposervice.com bipo-svc biposvc 2018 BIPO Service All rights reserved