Marcus Zeltzer on LinkedIn: Addressing wage underpayment issues in education: A whole organisation… (2024)

🚩 We need to talk about payroll compliance in higher education 🚩According to Kristen Hannah in a recent press release by The Fair Work Ombudsman, more than half of their 2022-23 underpayment recoveries – $317 million – came from large corporate and university employers. This doesn’t surprise me, when there are so many factors that could contribute toward payroll errors in the higher education space.Some examples:💼Casual workforcesAgreements might run the risk of violating relevant regulations, for instance, arrangements based on piece rates, and insufficient instructions provided to casual workers regarding compensable tasks like casual marking and tutorial attendance.📅 Availability of T&A recordsSystem issues with time and attendance data and incomplete records of hours worked are particularly common for casual and part time employees.📝 Awards and Enterprise AgreementsThe industrial landscape for universities involves several intricate modern awards that govern employment conditions. On top of that, there can often be unique enterprise agreements in place, adding another layer of complexity to compliance efforts.🤝Independence of facultiesDifferent approaches may be adopted by individual schools or faculties, resulting in additional complexity due to different practices for record-keeping, employee arrangements and/or payment calculations.With such a diverse and complex workforce, there’s no surprise that Universities in Australia are experiencing payroll issues and discrepancies.#highereducation #universities #wagetheftact

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New UK Labour Government Introduces Securonomics: Labour is committed to Securonomics, which will give working people security in their day-to-day lives – this involves banning exploitative zero-hours contracts and ending fire and rehire. As the Taylor Review found being able to work when you want is a good thing, but not knowing whether you have work from one day to the next is not.Labour’s New Deal will ensure more people stay in work, make work more family-friendly and improve living standards, putting more money in working people’s pockets to spend, boosting economic growth, resilience and conditions for innovation. Stronger trade unions and collective bargaining will be key to tackling problems of insecurity, inequality, discrimination, enforcement and low pay.A Genuine Living Wage for All: Discriminatory age bands will be removed to ensure every adult worker benefits, and we will work with the Single Enforcement Body and HMRC and ensure they have the powers necessary to make sure our genuine living wage is properly enforced, including penalties for non-compliance. Paid Travel Time: Labour will work with the Single Enforcement Body and HMRC to ensure the National Minimum Wage regulations on travel time in sectors with multiple working sites is enforced and that workers’ contracts reflect the law. More widely, we will work with the Low Pay Commission, trade unions, employers, the Council for Economic Growth and more to address the ongoing issue of low payBanning unpaid internships:Labour will ban unpaid internships except when they are part of an education or training course. This will be good for social mobility, ensuring that the talent of tomorrow get the vital skills and experience they need to succeed. A New Fair Pay Agreement and Institutional Innovation In Adult Social Care:Adult social care has a turnover rate of nearly a third and vacancy rate of nearly 10%. To address the very stark and specific issues in this vital sector, Labour will introduce a New Deal for Social Care Workers.https://lnkd.in/eDwzC9qj

🚨𝐔𝐧𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬The Australian National University (ANU) is tackling staff payment discrepancies following a Fair Work inquiry. The university found issues with how staff payments were handled, leading to inconsistencies and underpayments. This is a concern for every business.𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦?1️⃣ 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬: The discovery of payment issues indicates potential flaws in the payroll systems or processes at ANU. These flaws can lead to incorrect compensation, which affects staff morale and trust.2️⃣ 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐬: Underpayment issues expose ANU to legal risks and penalties. Ensuring compliance with fair work regulations is essential to avoid legal repercussions and protect the institution's reputation.3️⃣ 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐞: Payment discrepancies can significantly impact staff welfare, leading to financial stress and decreased productivity.What are your thoughts on handling such payment issues effectively? Should there be more frequent audits and stricter oversight to prevent such problems?For more details:

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With a significant increase to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) coming this April, there’s no better time to take a moment to check you’re confident that you understand the rules and aren’t at risk from common pitfalls such as:- Simple underpayments that happen for various reasons, like failing to update #payroll systems to reflect changes or not correctly accounting for hours worked. - Making deductions for items such as uniforms or equipment, but not ensuring they don’t bring pay below the NMW rate. Similarly, certain allowances and payments by staff, such as for accommodation, may affect compliance.- Failing to keep accurate records of hours worked, rates of pay, and any deductions or allowances – it’s difficult to prove compliance in the event of an audit or investigation without the records.- Not understanding #apprenticeship rates which are lower than standard NMW rates but subject to strict eligibility criteria, and those criteria must be met for the lower rate to be paid.It’s important to do regular audits of payroll records and employment contracts, to ensure that managers understand relevant #NMW rules, and to seek professional #advice if there are any doubts.We can of course help with getting it right in your organisation; give us a call – we’re a friendly bunch 🤗 . We’ll also be covering the rate changes when we do #employment #law updates for the CIPD in #NorthYorkshire in various locations in March and April – there are lots of developments to cover at those updates this spring; planning definitely required to squeeze it all into each session 📝!#nationalminimumwage #April2024 #emplaw #ukemplaw #ukemploymentlaw #hradvice #managers #SMEs #smesupport #payrollmanagement #payrollprocessing ALT Legal

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🔍 A very significant concern that has recently sparked considerable discussion is whether educational institutions can include the employer contribution in an employee's salary. Specifically, the scenario where 12% is deducted from the employee's basic pay for their contribution, and an additional 12% is silently deducted for the employer's contribution without declaration on the pay slip. 🤔💭Let's break this down:1. Employee Contribution Deduction: It is standard practice to deduct 12% of the employee's basic pay for provident fund contributions. 📉2. Employer Contribution Deduction: Legally, the employer should bear the cost of their contribution to the provident fund. ⚖️When an employer includes their contribution within the employee’s salary package and does not transparently declare it, it raises several legal and ethical questions:- 🔍 Lack of transparency in salary slips can undermine trust and breach employment terms.- ⚖️ Deducting the employer's share from the employee's basic pay may violate labor laws and provident fund regulations, which mandate that the employer's contribution is an additional benefit to the employee, not a part of their gross salary.- 👩💼 Employees have the right to clear, itemized pay slips showing all deductions and contributions.In my view, this practice could be legally questionable and potentially lead to disputes. Employers must ensure clarity and compliance with statutory regulations to maintain fair and lawful employment practices. 🚫📑I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts and experiences on this matter. Have you encountered similar practices? What do you think about the legality and ethics involved? 💬Pic Credit: Policybazaar.com#EmploymentLaw #HRPractices #EmployeeRights #Transparency #LegalCompliance #StayInformed

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The Government has named and shamed over 500 employers for not paying the correct National Minimum Wage between 2015-2023. Collectively, businesses underpaid employees by nearly £16 million. Some of the worst offenders were Staffline Recruitment, Rank Group Gaming division and Estee Lauder Cosmetics Group in the top three, along with restaurant group Mitchells and Butlers and EasyJet featuring in the top 10. Common reasons for underpayment were:• Unlawful deductions - such as uniform policy• Misinterpretation of the law• Underpayment of apprentices• Unpaid working timeTo help you understand common breaches and prevent them from happening, read our full article.#NationalMinimumWage #NMW

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Each April statutory payments, employment rates and limits increase, all in all the rises will impact national minimum wage rates, statutory redundancy payments, statutory sickness payments, and employment tribunal awards. As an Employer, you are legally obliged to meet these minimum requirements, a failure to do so could lead to a claim in a tribunal,In our article we detail the most important ones for you as an Employer to note.Why not take a read on the HR and You Ltd website: https://lnkd.in/eJYNuTRrNikki Crossland

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📣 Update on the new rules for fixed term employment contracts The new rules are due to start on 6 December 2023 (if you're not up to speed, click here: https://lnkd.in/g-dWtw_Q). Last Thursday the government issued regulations that will delay the start of the new rules until 1 July 2024 for the following employees:👉 Employees covered by the Higher Education Industry—Academic Staff—Award 2020or theHigher Education Industry—General Staff—Award 2020👉 Employees covered by the Live Performance Award 2020 (provided the contract term is 12 months or less)👉 Certain employees involved in organised sport 👉 Employees supporting the administration or organisation of high performance international sporting events not regularly held in Australia👉 Employees whose positions are funded via certain philanthropic entities, where the funding is payable for more than two years and there are no reasonable prospects that the funding will be renewed after the end of that period.For higher education and live performance employees, employers should keep in mind that an Award can still 'cover' an employee even if an enterprise agreement 'applies' to them. So the exemption could still apply where an enterprise agreement is in place.💵 High income threshold for part-time employees The new rules have an exemption for employees who earn above the high income threshold in the year the contract is entered into (currently $167,500). The regulations clarify that the high-income threshold is pro-rated for part-time employees. They also provide a formula for calculating the pro-rated high income threshold.It's worth noting that this is different to the way the high income threshold is applied for unfair dismissal purposes, where you don't pro-rate it for part-time employees.For those who are wondering, there's no sign yet of regulations to deal with employees working under a visa.#humanresources#HR#management#employmentlaw#law Source Erin Michael Chanel Teneille Carolyn Amelia Alexandra Tahlia Adam Tina

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Pay & Grading is an issue that I discuss frequently with our members, the challenges around designing a fit for purpose pay spine and implementing those changes locally are not an easy task. Here to help! 😀 #ecc #reward #payandgrading

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