Published on 23/10/2020 by Any Business.Com.Au

Top 8 Points for Staff Management from the Fair Work Act

Once you've kick-started the business you've always wanted and started to reap the benefits of profit and business growth, you may want to take on more employees to help lighten the work load.

Employing others is rewarding for both you and your business. But as soon as you sign the new employment contract, you'll be legally responsible for protecting the rights of your employees.

Employees rights and responsibilities, and yours as business owner, are outlined in the Fair Work Act 2009, a hefty document that can be overwhelming – not to mention a bit of a bore to read. But it is essential you know what's in its depths to manage your employees lawfully.

Knowing that you've probably got plenty of better things to do than trawl through the pages of a dry legal document, we've extracted the eight most important points you'll need to know to dutifully manage your staff.

Under the Fair Work Act, you must follow the minimum terms and conditions of employment through National Employment Standards (NES). These Standards outline a number of minimum workplace entitlements you must provide your employees.

1. A maximum number of work hours

Under the NES, your full-time employees are entitled to work no more than 38 hours in any standard work week. Those who are employed part-time or as casuals are entitled to work less than 38 hours, or an agreed upon number of hours per week.

As an employer, you can't make any staff member work more than their corresponding maximum hours per week, within reason. If the additional hours are unreasonable, your employees can refuse your request.

But how do you judge whether a request for extra hours is reasonable?

The Fair Work Act states that working more hours is unreasonable if it: - Will affect an employee's health and safety - Will conflict with an employee's personal circumstances, such as family responsibilities - Doesn't offer entitlements such as overtime pay, penalty rates, or other compensation - Isn't aligned with the employee's role and level of responsibility

Some modern awards or enterprise agreements outline a reasonable number of additional hours.

2. A right to request flexible working arrangements

Some circumstances will remain firmly outside your control. And if any of your employees are experiencing difficulties outside of work, they're more than entitled to request a change in work arrangements to help them cope. Of course, this is within reason. Some circumstances that permit such a request include if the employee: - Is responsible for a school-aged child (or younger) - Is a carer - Is 55 years old older - Has a disability - Is directly or indirectly experiencing domestic violence

Also, only long-term employees – that is, non-casual employees employed with the company continuously for at least 12 months or long-term casual employees whose employment is ongoing – can make such a request.

The request must be written in detail and responded to within 21 days. But you can't deny a request for no good reason. Causes for rejection include: - It would be too costly for you as employer - There would be no capacity to change other employees' arrangements to accommodate the request - It would be impractical to change other employees' arrangements or employ someone new to accommodate the request - It would result in a significant loss in efficiency or productivity - It could have a significant negative impact on customer service

3. Parental and adoption leave

Parental leave can be frustrating, but it's only right that your employee can be at home when they're starting a family. Thankfully, there are some measures in place to protect you, the employer. A non-casual employee must have completed 12 months with your company before being entitled to parental leave, while a casual employee must be long-term.

Employees can apply for 18 weeks government-funded paid parental leave. Dads and partners (including same-sex partners) are eligible for two weeks paid parental leave at the national minimum wage. Employees are entitled to a further 12 months of unpaid parental leave if they're leaving to care for their own newborn or newly adopted child.

Leave can start 6 weeks before the expected date of birth if your employee is pregnant and must be taken in one continuous period. They can request to reduce or extend that leave.

4. Four weeks paid annual leave (pro rata)

Non-casual employees are entitled to 4 or 5 weeks (if a shift worker) paid annual leave every year. From their moment of employment, they begin to accrue leave through the year according to their ordinary hours of work. If unused, the leave accumulates with each year.

An employee must submit a request when they wish to take leave, which you as employer can only reject with good reason. While the employee is on paid annual leave, you must pay them their base rate of pay for what they'd typically work over the period they're gone.

At the end of employment with an employee, any untaken paid annual leave must be paid out.

5. Personal or carer's leave and compassionate leave

Every year, your employees are entitled to ten days of paid personal or carer's leave. As with paid annual leave, this accrues throughout the year and accumulates over the years. Paid personal or carer's leave can be taken if your employee is unfit for work (usually sick or injured) or caring for a family member who is sick or injured or has suffered an emergency.

They can also receive two days of paid compassionate leave for each occasion it may be needed, such as for a serious personal illness or injury or death in the family. Finally, all employees are entitled to two days unpaid carer's leave for each occasion it may be needed.

Again, as with paid annual leave, you must pay the employee their base rate of pay for the ordinary hours they would have worked over their absence.

6. Paid jury service leave

For most community services or activities, your employees are entitled to be absent from work, but cannot be paid for that absence. The exception is jury service. If any non-casual employee is called up for jury service, you must pay them their base rate of pay for the ordinary hours they would have worked during their absence for their first 10 days of absence only.

7. Public holidays

We all love a public holiday – and one of the main reasons why is that many of us get paid even when we don't have to work. If your business is likely to shut down on a public holiday, no employee needs to attend work – but you must still pay them if they usually work that day.

Should your business remain open, you can request an employee work a public holiday, but you may have to pay them more according to the wages outlined in your industry award, and they can likewise refuse to work if they have a reasonable excuse.

8. Termination and redundancy

An inevitable downside of owning and running a business is making the tough decisions. And arguably no decision is tougher than having to end a person's employment with your business.

To terminate an employee's contract, you must give them written notice in advance, with a minimum period of notice calculated on how long the person was in your employ, or else pay them in lieu of notice for the duration the period of notice would have been.

If any role in your business becomes redundant, or if you must unfortunately declare bankruptcy and can no longer employ workers, you must give redundancy pay to any employee who has lost their job. As with termination, redundancy pay is calculated based on an employee's continuous service with your company.

You don't need to issue redundancy pay if the employee's service with your business was less than 12 months, or if you are a small business employer.

It is your responsibility as a business owner and employer to make sure that your staff are looked after and treated correctly. If not, you could face serious penalties from Fair Work Australia. And if you're unfair towards your employees it can create an unhappy working environment and reduce productivity or the quality of your services. You must give each new hire the Fair Work Information Statement, and ensure they know where to find their rights.

Remember, the Fair Work Act is only the minimum requirement to treating your employees. A little empathy, fun and a good attitude towards your staff go a long way to creating a positive and productive working environment.

For more information, and to get stuck into some heavy reading yourself, check out the Fair Work website and the Fair Work Handbook.

AnyBusiness.com.au

Mary is the founder of AnyBusiness.com.au. She has a degree in Business from Monash University and been helping showcase businesses for sale for over 10 years. In the course of running her own business and working daily with business owners and brokers she has developed a keen sense of the Australian market for businesses for sale and shares her knowledge on this blog and others such as female.com.au

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