When is an accountant liable for underpayment of wages by their client?
Accountants providing clients with payroll, accounting and book-keeping advice and services run the risk of being held accessorily liable for the underpayment of workers by their clients. This could expose you or your firm to potential fines and legal charges simply for your involvement in another person’s contravention of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).
Why you need to keep accurate employee records to avoid underpayments
Running a business usually means that you’re flat-out, with endless tasks which need to be done. It’s important that one of those tasks is ensuring you keep proper employment records as prescribed by the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). While this may seem like a low priority at times, the reality is that an ‘underpayment […]
Working out if I’ve been underpaid
Most employers do the right thing and pay their employees the prescribed rates of pay under the Fair Work Commission Modern Awards or the National Minimum Wage. A small minority do not, and if you’re employed by one of these then you are missing out on what is rightfully your entitlement. Between 2018-2019, the Fair […]
Are you paying above-Award wages? Does your employee know why?
If you’re paying an employee ‘above Award rates’ in lieu of certain entitlements under the Award (e.g. overtime, etc), you must make sure your employment contract specifies which Award entitlements are being discharged by this extra payment.
Annualised Wage Arrangements – are you being underpaid?
If you are a full-time employee who is paid an ‘annualised wage’ (i.e. a fixed dollar amount per year, rather than hourly), then you need to check the changes that came in from 1 March 2020 to make sure you are not being underpaid.