Payroll Compliance: Retail Industry

Cloud-based payroll software for a simplified and automated approach to Retail Award compliance.
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The Importance of Modern Award Compliance

Modern awards are an essential component of the Australian fair work system. They outline the terms and conditions of employment for workers in various industries, including minimum wages, hours of work, leave entitlements and other conditions.

Awards provide a safety net of minimum entitlements for employees and help to create a level playing field between employers and employees. They also ensure that employees are treated fairly and equally, regardless of their industry or occupation.

By providing these essential protections, modern awards help to create fair and just workplaces for all Australians.

In the pharmacy industry, this is no exception, making it crucial that you – as a business – know where your responsibilities sit.
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If you fail to comply with the Pharmacy Award, as laid out by the Fair Work Act 2009 – such as incorrectly paying wages or specific penalty rates and entitlements – you will be deemed as breaching workplace laws, with the risk of facing heavy fines.

On top of this risk, continuing to contravene an award can lead to severe consequences for your business, including potentially having to pay back any lost wages and rates to the employee(s). For most organisations, this can be seriously detrimental, with additional penalties often ranging from:

  • Fines of up to $12,600 as an individual for each breach
  • Fines of up to $63,000 as a company for each breach.

Biggest Pitfalls in the Retails Industry

There are several compliance issues that can arise when retail businesses fail to meet the requirements of the modern award.

The General Retail Industry Award is a highly dynamic modern award due to the large number of businesses it covers. So, it’s crucial to ensure that all employees are classified correctly under the award. This is often easier said than done, as there are a number of different classification levels within the retail industry
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As a result, one of the most common problems is incorrect wage payments.

This can occur when employers do not correctly calculate employee hours or when they incorrectly classify employees under the award.

Another compliance issue relates to penalty rates.

The modern award requires employers to pay penalty rates for work performed outside of regular hours, on weekends and public holidays. However, many retail businesses fail to do this instead of paying employees their standard hourly rate. This can lead to significant underpayments.
The last big pitfall for employers in the Retail industry is the award allowances.

The General Retail Industry Award proposes specific allowances when employees have a particular skill or perform certain tasks. For example, If you have staff that have been employed mainly to enter cold chambers or to stock and refill refrigerated storage areas, they are entitled to a cold work allowance.

These allowances are paid on an hourly basis rather than as a lump sum, so make sure it’s correctly added to your employee’s pay.
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So, what is the solution? Cloud payroll software and automated time and attendance software.

Here’s why.

Automated payroll software can help to take the hassle out of payroll management. Cloud-based solutions make it easy to access payroll information from anywhere, at any time. And by automating time and attendance tracking, businesses can ensure that they are always compliant with the latest rules and regulations.

Roubler Hospitality
Workforce Management

Roubler provides hospitality employers with a seamless software system
for all your payroll and workforce management needs.

With Roubler’s built-in compliance features, retailers can gain confidence knowing that they’re remaining legal compliant with Hospitality Award and complex EBAs.

Recruit, onboard, manage and pay your hospitality staff with one software solution.

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NoahFace Time &
Attendance Software

NoahFace offers an app-based time and attendance software called NoahFace Go which automates scheduling, time tracking and attendance records for site workers. 

In addition, the timekeeping records will automatically integrate with your KeyPay cloud payroll software. 

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Employment Hero

Go paperless and automate the employee onboarding process with Employment Hero’s employee HR software - an end-to-end people management platform that covers every aspect of the employee lifecycle.

By incorporating everything you need to recruit, onboard, roster, and manage your aged care team, Employment Hero increases efficiency and drives productivity across every aspect of your workforce.

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How Pay Cat Can Help

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If you’re like most business owners, managing HR and payroll is a time-consuming and complicated process.

That’s where Pay Cat comes in.

We offer an all-in-one system that makes it easy to manage your employee information, process payroll, and comply with government regulations. With varying modern awards and industry regulations to get your head around, we understand that working out your obligations as an employee can be overwhelming.
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Let our implementation specialists ensure your business remains compliant and in line with relevant regulations, awards and employee entitlements.

Our team of experts can help you stay out of the danger zone and on track with industry-specific standards.

Never get it wrong. No back pay calculations. No inefficient manual interpretation. No data re-entry.

If you’re interested in moving from a manual payroll system to an automated cloud payroll system, get in touch with us today for a free demo.