Fair Wage and holiday pay

ozzyoi on 25/06/2014 - 15:34
Last edited 25/06/2014 - 16:11

Hello,
I work part time for 21 hours a week ( thats the only job i have at the moment. I had been on holidays for 6 weeks and was told that i would be getting my holiday pay. Now i am on the books since dec last year and took holidays in the month of May. When i came back to Aus, the holiday pay was not reflected in my bank account statement and when i asked my boss about it, he bluntly replied that he was not sure about the holiday pay weeks and wats the format.. He told me to have a look at it. I am new to all this and i personally feel that its his duty to talk to his accountant/book keeper/tax consultant and then let me know and pay me fairly. I tried calling fair works and asking them but there is a long list of questionaires to be filled and kept ready before calling them. I am very frustrated and also feel my wage is very low according to my qualifications. Any help with holiday pay calculations will be greatly appreciated.Thanks

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Added later : I came across this on fair works website :
How much annual leave does an employee get?

Full-time and part-time employees get 4 weeks of annual leave, based on their ordinary hours of work.

Example: annual leave for part-time employees
Jane is a part-time employee who works 20 hours per week for a year.

At the end of the year, she is entitled to 80 hours of annual leave (the equivalent of 4 weeks work for her).

So does that mean i am entitled to 4 weeks of leave???
Thanks again.

General Discussion

Comments

  • Slippy on 25/06/2014 - 15:42

    from the day you became full time (if you are full time) you would have accrued 2.92 hours of Annual Leave per week, so calculate that over the number of weeks and that's how many hours you have.

    But it sounds like part time 21 hours a week, even if your "on the books" doesn't mean you are acruing annual leave.

    Are you paid per hour you work or are you paid an annual salary? do you have payslips? you can check those for annual leave hours accrued.

    • ozzyoi on 25/06/2014 - 15:51

      yes i get paid per hour, every week. i have payslips but how do i calculate from that.

    • ozzyoi on 25/06/2014 - 15:54

      the accrued anual leave varies every week on the time sheet:(

  • Slippy on 25/06/2014 - 15:53

    Ozzy, I think you are not actually full time. I think you are employed on a casual basis. For example; If you are very sick and cant attend work, and you bring a doctors certificate the next day, do you get paid for that day you were sick?

    • ozzyoi on 25/06/2014 - 15:54

      i havent taken any sick leave yet. so i dont know but i just checked my timesheet which is done thru xero and there the accrued anual leave varies every week :(

  • donbot on 25/06/2014 - 15:55

    Are you part time or casual? There is a difference for holiday pay/entitlements.

    If you were part time, you might have accrued 2 weeks worth of holiday pay.
    If you were casual, you'd have nothing accrued as casuals dont get paid holiday pay, rather they get a higher rate than part timers.

    Either way, you're certainly not going to get 6 weeks holiday pay after being there 6 months.

    • ozzyoi on 25/06/2014 - 16:00

      Hi tizey on my agreement it says part time. Yes i agree i wont get 6 weeks holiday pay but atleast somethin is better than getting nothing. So part time job has 2 weeks holiday pay is it? Can you provide me a link where it says that. Thanks

  • ode1online on 25/06/2014 - 16:03
    +1

    I'd speak with industrial relations mate
    look up your award on there site
    and speak with them
    They will be able to help you and your employer with any holiday pay
    sick leave and number of holidays you should have accrued
    Id also be asking about your superannuation cause it sounds like your employer
    is clueless or worse

    http://www.industrialrelations.nsw.gov.au/

    PS it may be his responsibly to do this (or at the very least the BOOK Keeper)
    but its in your BEST interest to know your RIGHTS..

    • ozzyoi on 25/06/2014 - 16:06

      i did ask him about super annu details as i would need to fill my tax returns for the first time. but he doesnt know about it. It seems he is paying a fine on it as he is not paying supa for me, but it reflects on my time sheet. Sad it is. thx ode1

      • ode1online on 25/06/2014 - 17:25

        I was afraid that was the case
        Keep on it, there's too many companies failing to put in the supa
        and if you left or the company went belly up you might loose out.

        Do you know what supa plan you have ??
        They WILL give you a ANNUAL STATEMENT , for TAX.. they have to!
        I'd suggest you select a supa plan of your own that you can see the money going in.!
        This should have been discussed when you first were employed as they have to put the money in each week.

        https://www.ato.gov.au/Calculators-and-tools/Super-guarantee…

        As much as I trust my employer, I always keep a simple tally of my
        Annual leave (in fact I made them put in on our wage slips)
        Long Service leave
        and super contributions.

        Its important you know this mate ,
        and your boss has NO right to ignore it and he is NOT allowed to
        sack you because you ask!

        Also might be good to talk to an accountant!

        I'd probably speak with him again, and then put it in an email, and also give him a time frame to complete it by

        EG. AS discussed My supa holiday pay, WAGE (are you earning the AWARD) etc.

        That way if he doesn't follow it up , he can't plead ignorance.

        Good luck mate

  • bobbified on 25/06/2014 - 17:46
    +2

    From what you've written, it sounds like you're a Permanent part-time employee who works 21 hours/week consistently. This is different to a worker who is classified as a "Casual Employee". Casual Employees tend to get paid higher hourly rates to compensate for the lack of benefits such as annual/sick/miscel leave, job security and irregular hours.

    If you are a permanent employee who consistently works a set number of hours each week, the leave will be accrued on a pro-rated basis.

    If the standard working week for a Full-Time permanent employee is 40 hours/week and they accrue 160 hours (4 weeks) of leave each year, then at each pay period (say, Monthly), the Full time employee would accrue 1/12 x 160 hours.

    For a Permanent Part-time employee, the Monthly accrual would be "Number of hours per week"/40 x 1/12 x 160.

    Hope that helps.

  • here2rock on 26/06/2014 - 07:39

    Normal hours are 38 hours in NSW not 40. The OP can use the calculator on fair work Australia website. To me he is owed about 2 weeks of holidays, he took 6 weeks, 4 weeks will be unpaid unless he has an agreement with the employer,

  • ammipod on 26/06/2014 - 07:55

    Hv is right with the calcs. Vic std FT is 38 or 38.5 hours so here you would base it on that. In basic terms, if you worked for 6 months (dec-may) you would have been entitled to approx half your yearly leave, ie. approx 1 week FT/2 weeks PT. Yes you get 4 weeks leave a year but it is pro rata, so if you work 21 hrs/week it is essentially 4x21 hrs accrued after 12 months.
    Your boss can only pay you for what you have accrued at the time of taking the leave, and would have had to agree that the remaining time would be unpaid leave.

  • anthony t on 26/06/2014 - 10:58
    +1

    It's what ammipod said above that means the most. 'it is essentially 4x21 hrs accrued AFTER 12 months'. When I had employees, annual leave was not due and payable until AFTER you'd been in the job for 12 months (I think this is still true). I was always happy to let people take annual leave early, if clients didn't suffer, because it's paid at the rate you're earning at that time, than is, cheaper than after a salary increase. Also, we did let some good workers take more leave than they were owed (ie go into debit leave days left), and paid them, as a kind of 'thank you' to them. As you weren't there a full year, they can actually treat it all as LWOP (leave without pay) but this could have been specified at the time you put in the request. If they are reasonable, they might pay you for your accrued leave up to that time but in reality, they don't have to. Remember that if they treat it all as LWOP, you will still be owed your accumulated annual leave at the end of a full year, or as a payout if you quit, so you've 'only' lost having that money in your account in the meantime. I can't comment on whether 'on the books' means your an employee or not, and you need to clarify this.

    • lina23 on 26/06/2014 - 12:00
      +1

      Spot on Anthony. I worked in Industrial Relations for many years, and the entitlement to AL is AFTER 12 months. The employer can agree to pay you any accumulated AL that you take before the 12 months is up, but basically it is up to them whether they pay it. You are not legally entitled to take any paid AL in the first 12 months. Also double check whether you are actually part time or casual - just because you are working a regular 21 hours a week doesn't automatically mean you are part time, you could still be casual. And often employers who aren't up on these things (which sounds like your employer) will confuse part time vs casual. Is there any way you can talk to his bookkeeper/accountant/whoever does the wages? They should know whether you are part time or casual. Or you can check your wage rate on your payslip against the wage rate on the Fair Work website - just use the PayCheck Plus calculator. Re the super - if he's not paying it, lodge a complaint with the ATO - they can and will follow up and make him pay it. It takes a while, as they've got a huge backlog of employers who haven't been paying, but it is worth doing. Just ask the ATO to keep your name out of it when they investigate.

      • tonka on 27/06/2014 - 02:41

        Pretty sure the after 12 months specs have disappeared with the award simplification and introduction of NES. There also used to be a bit about it must be taken within 6 months of falling due which has also disappeared.

        Entitlement is basically 4 weeks off per year at whatever your average hours are. If you work shift work you get an extra week.

        Some awards allow for more ie nurses get an extra week. There may also be additional conditions in your award.

        Annual leave entitlement must be recorded on payslip, if you have had a balance there than very unlikely you are casual. You would also need to be receiving a casual loading if you are casual.

        There is some finicky stuff around this now, ie test case that NES doesn't state when leave must be paid and payment can be in advance of the time off, so some employers have been able included include in hourly rate.
        Also if you did take LWOP technically you would have to still take your annual leave time off later.

        • ozzyoi on 01/07/2014 - 08:44

          thanks for the info. yes its complicated for the first time. but had a talk with my boss and it seems its leave accrued for 12 months ,so basically i get paid for the leave hours that i have accrued till i went for hols..

      • ozzyoi on 01/07/2014 - 08:47

        thanks lina23, Reg the super, no i dont want to complain to ATO he is having some financial probs atm so i will wait for a few weeks..then will talk to him again..thx

      • ozzyoi on 01/07/2014 - 08:48

        thanks lina23, Reg the super, no i dont want to complain to ATO he is having some financial probs atm so i will wait for a few weeks..then will talk to him again..thx

    • ozzyoi on 01/07/2014 - 08:48

      thanks for the info

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