How to Prepare Your Business for the Holiday Season

While the Holiday season and the lead up to it is the busiest time of the year for many businesses, others use this as a chance to turn up the holiday cheer and shut down for several days. Shutting your workplace over the holiday period is, in effect, directing your employees to take annual leave. If you are looking to close your business this holiday season, read on to ensure you've checked off the essentials before kicking back and getting some much-needed respite.

Check What Awards and Agreements Your Employees are Entitled To 

While business shutdowns are common over the holiday and New Year period, the Modern Award or Enterprise Agreement applicable to an employee determines what conditions govern an employer's right to send them on leave. Employers are typically required to provide employees with a minimum notice period when planning to close their business for a period of annual leave. Most Awards include terms that allow employers to send employees on an annual shutdown. However, if the employee's Award or Agreement does not specify such terms, employees are not obligated to take leave. Instead, employers can negotiate with employees to take paid or unpaid leave. If such negotiations are not successful, employees need to be paid their ordinary hourly rate for the time they would have worked while the business is closed.

Understanding Annual Leave

A common question businesses ask us is, what if an employee has either no annual leave, not enough annual leave to cover the entire closure period, or is not entitled to paid annual leave? The answers to these questions are typically found in the Award or Agreement applicable to the employee and is something all businesses should be familiar with before communicating a shutdown to staff. Depending on the employee's Award or Agreement, you may be able to request them to:

• Take paid or unpaid annual leave
• Take time off, pay them for the entitlements they have, and request that they take unpaid leave for the remaining shutdown period
• Provide notice to casuals that they will not receive any shifts for the duration of your business' shutdown

Employees may also be permitted to go into negative paid leave, which they can subsequently accrue and replenish when they return to work, but this is up to the discretion of your business.

November 2021 Increase for Awards

From the first whole pay period on or after 01 November 2021, 21 awards increase, those being:

• Pilots Award
• Cabin Crew Award
• Airline Ground Staff Award
• Airport Award
• Alpine Resorts Award
• Amusement Award
• Dry Cleaning and Laundry Award
• Fitness Award
• Hair and Beauty Award
• Hospitality Award
• Live Performance Award
• Models Award
• Nursery Award
• Racing Clubs Events Award
• Racing Ground Maintenance Award
• Registered Clubs Award
• Restaurant Award
• Sporting Organisations Award
• Travelling Shows Award
• Wine Award
• Marine Tourism and Charter Vessels Award

Updated pay guides for these awards can be found at: 

https://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay-and-wages/minimum-wages/pay-guides 

Super Fund Stapling: Effective 01 November 2021

Your Obligations as an Employee

With Super Stapling coming into effect from 01 November 2021, ASIC reminds all businesses to be mindful of their responsibilities concerning employee superannuation. All employers must pay superannuation guarantee contributions on time to the superannuation fund(s) that meet their choice of fund obligations. From November 2021 onwards, employers must make superannuation guarantee contributions for all employees into the fund chosen by the employee. If no fund has been elected, the stapled super fund advised by the ATO for that employee must be used. A stapled super fund is an existing super account linked (or 'stapled') to an individual which follows them as they change jobs, aiming to reduce account fees and avoid a new account being opened each time an employee commences new employment. If the ATO advises that the employee does not have a stapled super fund, either your business's default superannuation fund or another fund that meets your choice of fund obligations as an employer must be used. If an employee has nominated a choice of fund, this overrides super stapling, and you must pay the employee's super contributions into that nominated fund.

ASIC's Guide to Providing Employees with Superannuation Financial Advice

With the introduction of super stapling, ASIC has outlined some do's and don'ts to keep in mind when communicating with your employees about super choice:

✓   Provide objective information and documentation relating to superannuation

✓   Refer employees to online Government information sources such as the YourSuper comparison tool and        MoneySmart resources

✗   Provide financial product advice

✗   Mandate or influence employees to select a particular super fund

Need Advice About Shutting Down Your Business This Holiday Period?

At TeamBlueSky, we work with our clients to help ensure that they are fully compliant with Awards and Agreements applicable to employees over business holiday closures. If you are looking for advice on managing your business' shutdown period, feel free to reach out to our team of payroll experts today.