Ordinary weekly pay includes "productivity or incentive based payments” (including commission) if those payments are a regular part of the employee's pay. If the employer pays a holiday pay top up at the end of the year based on gross earnings then they will be caught paying holiday pay on the bonuses. The meaning of “gross earnings" is all payments that the employer is required to pay to the employee under the employee's employment agreement, including for example productivity or incentive-based payments (including commission).
Point of raising it – when you are drafting agreements you need to factor in how you pay people and realise when you are budgeting for holiday pay this is likely to include all payments made to an employee not just a “base” salary or hourly rate.
Question – what is the current minimum wage?
Answer – it increases on 1 April 2009. For adult workers an increase from $12.00 to $12.50 per hour and for new entrants and trainees an increase from $9.60 to $10.00 per hour.
Question – what is the nine day fortnight all about?
The scheme will start 27 March 2009 and run to the end of December 2010.
Initially only businesses in the private sector with 100 or more full time employees will be eligible.
Enrolment is limited to 10 employees for each redundancy avoided.
Each employee can only be enrolled for a maximum of six months.
Employees must have been employed for a minimum of two months before enrolment.
The scheme will subsidise earnings where employers and employees agree to implement a nine day fortnight as an alternative to redundancies. For lost earnings on the tenth day, the Government will offer workers a subsidy of five hours at the minimum wage ($12.50) in addition to providing training or education.
20 March 2009
