Be aware, there have been at least 3 articles in the paper in June 2018 alone reporting on the reasons and penalties being imposed by the ERA to companies for paying holiday pay at incorrect rates, underpaying employees or for not having current Employment Agreements for their employees.
Any penalty has to be paid to the ERA, as well as any underpayment paid to the employee.
If you are investigated, and it only takes one employee to go to the ERA for this to happen, the ERA will check the pay history of all your employees.
What can you do?
1. Make sure you have current Employment Agreements for all your employees and update the agreements if the employment relationship or the pay rate/structure changes.
2. Check you are paying Holiday Pay correctly.
Permanent employees must be paid the higher of their ordinary weekly pay and average weekly pay, including regular payments such as overtime or commission. Casual or fixed-term employees can be paid their holiday on a “pay as you go” basis. All other leave such as sick leave or public holidays, for example, are calculated differently.
3. Keep complete records of your employees hours and days of work.
4. Use these helpful resources:
- Leave and holidays: A guide to employees’ legal entitlements
- www.employment.govt.nz/leave-and-holidays
- www.employment.govt.nz/leave-and-holidays/calculating-payments-for-leave-and-holidays/calculating-annual-holiday-payments/
- www.employment.govt.nz/hours-and-wages/keeping-accurate-records/
Need more help?
We offer a payroll service where we prepare your payroll taking away all the concern of meeting legal requirements and ensures accurate and correct wages every payday. Contact us for a no-obligation quote.