Payroll News: Domestic Violence Leave, Aged Care Award Rate Increase, STP Phase 2

There have been some recent changes in legislation that could affect the payroll procedures within your business, or yourself as an employee. We have summarised some recent changes below.

1. New paid family and domestic violence leave

All employees, whether full time, part time, or casual, will soon be able to access 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave in a 12-month period. This leave is not pro-rated for part time and casual employees, meaning that they will have access to the full 10 days.

The leave will be available from:

• 1 February 2023, for employees of non-small business employers (employers with 15 or more employees on 1 February 2023)
• 1 August 2023, for employees of small business employers (employers with less than 15 employees on 1 February 2023).

How is the leave granted for new and existing employees?

The leave renews every year on each employee’s work anniversary. It does not accumulate from year to year if it isn’t used. Employees who start on or after the date that the paid leave entitlement becomes available at their new workplace can access the full 10 days from their first day. The leave will renew on their work anniversary. Employees who are already employed when the paid leave entitlement starts in their workplace can access the full 10 days on the relevant start date. The leave then renews on the anniversary of when they started working for that employer (not on the anniversary of the relevant start date). For example, an existing employee who commenced on 15 July 2022 will be granted 10 days on 1 February 2023 if employed by large business employer. Their next 10-day entitlement will then be granted on 15 July 2023.

At what rate is the leave paid?

Full-time and part-time employees can take paid family and domestic violence leave at their full pay rate for the hours they would have worked if they weren’t on leave.

An employee’s full pay rate is their base rate plus any:

• incentive-based payments and bonuses
• loadings
• monetary allowances
• overtime or penalty rates
• any other separately identifiable amounts.

Casual employees will be paid at their full pay rate worked out as if the employee had worked the hours in the period for which they were rostered. A casual employee is taken to have been rostered to work hours in a particular period if they have accepted an offer from an employer to work those hours.

Other considerations:

• Do not report paid family and domestic violence leave on the employee’s payslip
• Superannuation – paid family and domestic violence leave is considered Ordinary Time Earnings, so superannuation is payable
• Employees will continue to be entitled to 5 days of unpaid family and domestic violence leave under the NES until they can access the new paid entitlement

For further information on this payment, you can visit this link: New paid family and domestic violence leave – Fair Work Ombudsman

2. 15% Increase to Award Wages for Aged Care Workers

On the 4^th of November 2023, the Fair Work Commissioner granted an interim 15% increase in the minimum wage rate for all direct aged care classifications in the Aged Care, SCHADS and Nurses Award. The next decision to impact this will be made in February 2023.

3. Payroll Compliance Notes

With the recent push to ‘STP Phase 2’, we wanted to highlight 3 common mistakes that employers make as they move to STP Phase 2 Reporting:

1. Re-mapping pay codes or categories incorrectly
   Make sure you check if you have pay codes for items you need to itemise separately, such as bonuses, commissions and overtime.
2. Continuity of year-to-date (YTD) reporting
   If the solution you use requires you to input your existing YTD amounts manually, make sure you bring over all the required amounts.
3. Incorrectly categorising allowances STP Phase 2 reporting – Quick reference guide | Australian Taxation Office (ato.gov.au)
   You need to report all allowances separately in your STP Phase 2 Reporting; this includes eight allowance categories and one for ‘other allowances’. Only report an amount as an ‘other allowance’ if it doesn’t fit into one of the eight categories. These can be found on the ATO website.

More information on moving to STP Phase 2 can be found here: Reporting the amounts you have paid | Australian Taxation Office (ato.gov.au)

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us should you require any assistance with the above information.

– Catherine Stojcevska

Posted 13.01.2023

This article is compiled as a helpful guide for your private information and is subject to copyright. We suggest that you do not act solely on the basis of material contained in this article because items are of general nature only and may be liable to misinterpretation in particular circumstances. We recommend that our advice be sought before acting on any of these crucial areas.